As scores of pilgrims return from Sabarimala without getting the holy porridge called aravana, the coalition partners are blaming each other for the management fiasco.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala’s ruling Left Democratic Front has problems divine. As scores of pilgrims return from Sabarimala without getting the holy porridge called aravana, the coalition partners are blaming each other for the management fiasco.
The public spar went so far that chief minister VS Achuthanandan had to call a meeting, sans temple affairs minister G Sudhakaran and the three members of the Travancore Devaswom Board, on Monday to discuss the pilgrims’ woes.
“We will set it straight in a week. Aravana will be made available to everyone. Right now, not more than 5,000 people can climb the holy 18 steps to the sanctum sanctorum of the Sri Dharma Sastha Temple each hour.
We have to manage over 1.25 lakh devotees each day,” Achuthanandan told reporters after a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram. He said there would soon be a hospital with an operation theatre available to treat ailing pilgrims.
He said that Devaswom board president CK Guptan and the two members were kept away because there was a vigilance probe into the board’s deal with a private firm entrusted to can the porridge.
The board has decided to directly make and sell the porridge after it was accused of helping the fourth largest bidder bag the lucrative contract. Minister Sudhakaran, away in Alapuzha, said he was bound by any decision the chief minister takes.
Sudhakaran, who accused the nominees of CPI and RSP in the board of corruption, had sparked off bitter reactions from the coalition partners.
When Sudhakaran clashed with CPI secretary Veliyam Bhargavan, his party boss Pinarayi Vijayan took RSP leader TJ Chandrachoodan to task for criticising the lifestyles of CPI(M) leaders.
The board announced that it would directly make and sell the sweet porridge after the private firm which bagged the contract was found to have violated the terms of the deal.
Guptan said that an emergency meeting of the board, in which CPI’s P Narayanan and RSP’s Sumathikutty Amma were present, took the decision on November 17.
The board was in for further criticism on Monday, when the Kerala high court remarked that the body was lackadaisical in dealing with the issue. The court sent notices to State Industrial Development Corporation, which bagged the Rs1.75-crore contract for supplying cans for the porridge.
s_don@dnaindia.net
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