As part of its efforts to enhance facilities for Sabarimala pilgrims, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has decided to offer traditional Kerala sadya (feast) as part of the free meal programme at the hill temple.
TDB president K. Jayakumar said the sadya would be served at the Annadanam counter, with the new menu expected to be rolled out within the next couple of days. Funding would not be a challenge, he noted, as devotees had been contributing generously towards Annadanam. The board had also resolved to begin discussions to implement several development projects outlined in the temple’s master plan.
Meanwhile, a fresh police team on Tuesday took charge of security and crowd management at Sabarimala. The second batch consists of 1,543 personnel, including an Assistant Special Officer, 10 Deputy Superintendents of Police and 34 Circle Inspectors.
The Food Safety department’s special squads, which have carried out 350 inspections across eateries serving pilgrims, issued rectification notices to 60 units where deficiencies were found. A total of 292 food samples were collected and sent for testing. The department had also conducted eight awareness sessions for food business operators and two licence-registration camps.
An official statement said inspections were under way at key points with high pilgrim footfall. A special squad had been constituted exclusively for the Mandalam season to coordinate these operations. Round-the-clock food safety squads had been deployed at the Sannidhanam, Pampa, Nilackal, and Erumely.
To ensure the quality and safety of appam and aravana, key offerings at the hill shrine, a lab had been set up at the Sannidhanam for continuous testing. Raw materials used in their preparation were being checked at the Pampa lab. At Nilackal and Erumely, mobile units were conducting inspections and testing collected samples.
Food items were also being examined at the newly opened district food safety lab in Pathanamthitta, with detailed analysis carried out at the Thiruvananthapuram lab.
Published – November 25, 2025 08:08 pm IST
