Arrangements in place for Pongala festival

₹8.39 crore utilised for activities to ensure smooth conduct of festival, say Ministers

The district administration has geared up to receive devotees for the Attukal Pongala festival that will commence on Monday. Public utilities have planned steps to ensure adequate water and power supply, while food safety officials will intensify inspections.

General Education Minister V. Sivankutty and Transport Minister Antony Raju, who addressed mediapersons here on Sunday, said the government and the city Corporation has utilised over ₹8.39 crore for various activities undertaken to ensure the smooth conduct of the festival that is bound to attract several lakhs of devotees.

Efforts are being made to enforce a Green Protocol in the festival venue and on the Pongala day on March 7 when devotees will line the city roads with makeshift hearths to offer ‘pongala’ as part of the ritual.

The City police will deploy nearly 3,000 personnel including a sizeable contingent from other districts, while nearly a third of the entire deployment will be women police personnel. The police will focus on crowd management and surveillance with a focus on preventing instances of chain-snatching and other crimes. A main control room has already commenced operation on the temple premises.

The Kerala Fire and Rescue Services will operate six control rooms in the festival zone. Fifteen station officers, 10 task forces, and 110 civil defence volunteers will be deployed. As many as 25 ambulances will be kept ready to handle exigent situations that could arise during the festival. The Health department will also commence six medical camps. The Food Safety department and the city Corporation have made online registration mandatory for food supply.

The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation will operate additional service to ferry devotees to and from various parts of the city.

Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran, District Collector Geromic George, District Police Chief (Thiruvananthapuram City) C.H. Nagaraju and Subcollector Aswathy Srinivas also participated in the press conference.