Kochi: A Rs 1,000 crore plan for the development of Hill shrine of Sabarimala was announced by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today, media reports said.
The projects would be executed to make the shrine safe and convenient for the devotees, he said opening the Global Ayyappa Sangamam at
the foothills on Saturday.
Vijayan said that development work worth Rs 1,033.62 crore will be completed by 2039.
The work include development of Pamba at the foothills, the trekking route to the hillshrine,
and the area where the sanctum sanctorum is located is called Sannidhanam.
Over Rs 300 crore will be spent from 2025 to 2030 to improve the basic facilities for the devotees, he said.
Vijayan said that some persons tried to obstruct the conclave by moving to different Courts.
Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) which administers the temple is expecting delegates from 15 countries to attend the summit being held as part of the 75th anniversary of TDB.
The Opposition parties including rightist BJP and Centrist Congress are boycotting the conclave saying that the Communist government which tortured devotees to implement the Supreme Court order of 2018 had no right to organise the event.
The tradition barred women between 10 and 50 age from taking a pilgrimage to the temple as the presiding deity Lord Ayyappa is a celibate.
In September 2018, the Supreme Court of India removed the ban on women after which the Communist government implemented the order which led to a huge protest by political parties leading to police assaulting pilgrims.
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