SABARIMALA: The railway ticket counter at Pampa has put hundreds of pilgrims, especially those from Andhra Pradesh, Karanataka and Tamil Nadu, in dire straits by denying reservation facilities for want of copies of identity cards. The pilgrims who came to the railway ticket counter, set up about a decade ago, by providing premises by the Travancore Devaswom Board at Pampa Anjeneya Auditorium, refused to issue reservation tickets. Though the pilgrims showed their voter identity cards at the counter, the counter staff member insisted on giving copies of the identity cards along with the application for issuing the reservation tickets. Pilgrims said that it was near impossible for them to provide copies as no shops run a copying centre at Pampa or Sannidhanam. The new condition, hitherto unheard of, evoked widespread resentment among the pilgrims, who alone contributed Rs 200 crore to the Railways through the ticket sales during the two months last year.Konni Sabari Balika Sadanam inmates offer darsan at Sabarimala: Seventeen of 75 inmates of Konni Sabari Balika Sadanam, in the permissible age of 4 and 9 years, offered worship at Sabarimala on Tuesday. Led by Sadanam caretakers Janaradhanan Nair, N G Ravi and Purushothaman, the Malikappurams climbed the Holy Steps at 12.30 p.m. and left after darsan and having meals from Sabarimala Ayyappa Seva Samajam free food facility at Sannidhanam.
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