With the Sabarimala season well into its third week, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) which earns a huge chunk of its revenue during the pilgrimage season, has registered a marginal dip in its revenue at Pampa.
The KSRTC, which had been doing well in the previous years at this time of the season, has shown a dip in its earnings by Rs 18 lakh. Currently, the KSRTC’s revenue stands at Rs 1.31 crore compared to the previous year’s Rs 1.49 crore.
Also, the KSRTC which had run nearly 15,000 services last year between November 15 and December 3, has hardly managed to run 11,000 services during the same time period this year.
Officials of the KSRTC at Pampa cite that the number of pilgrims alighting there have gone down by more than ten per cent this year.
“Pampa is the final destination. All those who use private vehicles also board the KSRTC buses from Nilakkal to Pampa. We have been monitoring the number of passengers arriving from various parts of the country and it has been quite low,” said KSRTC General Manager Mr Venugopal.
According to the KSRTC officials, during the last three days, the usual rush was evident. But the general lull may indicate that the number of pilgrims visiting the Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala may have decreased.
It has been pointed out that the Sree Ayyappa Temple being built at Andhra Pradesh could be one reason why the influx of the pilgrims are decreasing at Sabarimala.
Suri Babu, a pilgrim from Andhra Pradesh, said that many followers of Lord Ayyappa are eagerly awaiting the commissioning of the temple. It is possible that the faithful may go there from next year,” he said.
However, there are many pilgrims who contradict this statement. They feel that the people arriving by foot are going via Erumely without touching Pampa, which could indicate why the KSRTC is not earning the expected revenues at Pampa in comparison with the previous years.
