Thiruvananthapuram/Kochi: As the number of devotees arriving for pilgrimage at the Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala continued to increase, the Kerala government on Monday decided to restrict the maximum number of pilgrims each day to 90,000 and extended the ‘darshan’ timings by an hour.
The decisions were taken in a high-level meeting chaired by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, a statement issued by his office said.
Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) chairman K Ananthagopan confirmed the same when he told reporters here that it was decided during the meeting to ensure facilities for smooth darshan by 90,000 devotees each day at Sabarimala in Pathanamthitta district of the state.
The total bookings for darshan on the virtual queue system for Monday is 1,19,480, according to a TDB source.
The TDB president said that it was decided in the meeting to modify the darshan timings to 3 am to 1.30 pm in the first half of the day and 3 pm to 11.30 pm in the second half.
Prior to the latest decision, the timings were 3 am to 1 pm and 3 pm to 11 pm.
