Sabarimala chaos: ‘Situation in Nilackal, Pamba pitiable’

MLA Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, who headed the panel, said that the government machinery has been a total failure at Sabarimala and there was no effort on the part of the government to improve the situation. “At Pamba, pilgrims were standing in queues for 8-9 hours under the hot sun without drinking water or food. The rush was created artificially,” he said. He also said that there was a viripanthal in Pamba that used to accommodate 15,000 pilgrims at a time. However, the facility got washed away in the 2018 floods and only two small resting places are available now, he said.