Lord Ayyappa devotees undertaking the annual pilgrimage to the famous hill shrine would be provided transit shelters at 38 locations enroute to Sabarimala.
A decision to construct the shelters in lands belonging to 38 temples was taken at a joint meeting of the devaswom (temple administration) boards here on a direction from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The shelters would have rooms providing all basic facilities for pilgrims to take rest and park their vehicles, and come up at temples under the Travancore, Cochin, Malabar, Koodalmanickam and Guruvayur devaswom boards, a government press release said.
The devotees usually offer worship at these 38 temples also as part of their pilgrimage to Sabarimala.
These shelters would be besides the ones being set up at Erumeli, Nilakkal and other places as per the Sabarimala Masterplan.
Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said normally construction of facilities for pilgrims begins just before the start of pilgrim season in November every year and this needs to be done away with.
The arrangements for the pilgrims should commence by April, he said adding within a month a detailed project report would be prepared.
Every year, around four crore devotees visit Sabarimala from all over the country during the two-month long season.
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