Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Differences in TDB to hit Sabarimala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Differences of opinion between Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) members and the president could affect the state of preparedness for the Mandalam and Makaravilakku festivals in Sabarimala.

Internal squabbles and the consequent administrative deadlock have brought the functioning of the TDB headquarters to a virtual halt.

With hardly 20 days left for the festival, the office should have been a beehive of activity. But it has slipped into inaction.

Many crucial arrangements for the festival, including deployment and selection of staff for various tasks, have not yet been completed.

In addition to 1,500 regular employees posted on festival duty, the TDB engages 1,000 casual workers every year for various tasks at Sabarimala and the Sannidhanam.

So far no steps have been taken to interview and select the casual workers. The interview and selection of 30 priests for offering ‘bali tharpanam’ at Pampa have not yet been taken up.

Though the government has constituted a high-power committee headed by Sabarimala chief coordinator K. Jayakumar for the smooth conduct of the festival, the TDB has to meet regularly and review the administrative measures initiated by the staff from time to time.

TDB sources told The Hindu that the members and the president have not seriously taken stock of the arrangements or suggested corrective measures so far.

Despite the organisation of the festival being the TDB’s constitutional obligation, it has failed to figure in the priorities of the TDB. All policy decisions should be made by the TDB and follow-up action should be taken for completing the arrangements in a time-bound manner.

Payments for major works, sanctioning of estimates and such other serious responsibilities also vest in the TDB.

There have been complaints that the TDB has failed to properly apprise the High Court of the tasks before it for the festival and seek more time to conduct the interview for the posts of lower division clerk.

Instead of adopting corrective measures, warranted especially in the light of organisational lapses of the previous festival, the members have been vying with one another to disrupt the functioning of the board. The differences of opinion are feared to stymie the steps taken by the Sabarimala commissioner and the chief coordinator, sources said.

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