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Pathanam Thitta: Three days after the inauguration of Makaravilak Utsav, the construction of Aravana, the main prasad at Sabarimala, was halted due to shortage of containers. Construction stopped on Monday afternoon. As part of Aravana’s strict restrictions on distribution, distribution has been limited to five bottles per pilgrim. The number of Aravana, which was distributed on Saturday upon demand, was reduced to 10 boats each from Sunday morning. The number was then reduced again to five on Monday.
State pilgrims who arrive in large groups suffer the most. Since most pilgrims have to queue for prasad, the counters are crowded.
This time, the Devaswom Board had appointed two companies to supply two and a half lakh containers per day for the Mandala-Makaravilak pilgrimage period. But the crisis was triggered when a contractor failed to deliver the container on time. To resolve this issue, the Devaswom board had floated a fresh tender last Saturday.
The originally tendered contractor had the capacity to deliver only 50,000 containers per day. The board then considered another contractor to deliver the container. The board was assured that the two new contractors will be able to deliver one and a half lakh containers per day. However, the board can only confirm the contract after obtaining approval from the Supreme Court. PS, chief executive officer of Travancore Devaswom, said if this hurdle can be overcome, the crisis will be resolved within a few days. Prashant said.
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