THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In just under a week since online booking began for Sabarimala 's upcoming annual festival season, 539 women aged between 10 and 50 have registered for darshan, even as those opposing the historic Supreme Court verdict allowing women in that age group to pray at the hill-top temple are expected to step up protests when the temple opens again on November 16.A total of 3.50 lakh people has so far registered for darshan, as police imposed fresh restrictions on pilgrim movement, including a controversial one that mandates every vehicle coming to Sabarimala to obtain a police pass from the place of its origin. Similar to the digital crowd management system (DCMS) that allows authorities to ascertain the number of pilgrims coming to the temple, the police passes are ostensibly meant for maintaining a database of vehicles that will reach the temple during the peak two-month season.When the temple opened for six days in mid-October and for two days early in November, police had to face a major law and order situation when several women aged between 10 and 50 tried entering but failed due to violent protests by right-wing organisations. According to police sources, if the Supreme Court upholds its verdict while considering the review petitions on November 13, the situation is likely to worsen this time, considering the number of young women who are bound to come as well as the number of days the temple will be open.According to police, the decision on obtaining police passes is part of parking management at Sabarimala where parking space available has been reduced to one-third of that last season, due to recent floods. "Till last year, almost 30,000 vehicles could be parked in Pamba and Nilackal that has now been reduced to 10,000, as no vehicle will be permitted to go to Pamba. Issuing passes for vehicles will help us in planning the parking for vehicles in a better manner as we will know how many vehicles would reach there on a particular day. Otherwise we will be totally in dark and it can create chaos," state police chief Loknath Behera told TOI.Each Sabarimala-bound vehicle needs to obtain a pass from the police station in the locality from where the vehicle departs. Basic details such as number of people travelling, dates of pilgrimage, name and details of driver and vehicle owner need to be submitted at the police station for obtaining passes. Behera claimed that the decision had nothing to do with the law and order issue in Sabarimala, though the BJP alleged that this was part of a larger game plan to sabotage the Sabarimala pilgrimage. "The intention of police is to reduce the number of devotees coming to Sabarimala. Insisting for passes will automatically prompt people to rethink about their trip", BJP state general secretary K Surendran said.

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