PAMBA/SANNIDHANAM: Thousands of pilgrims offered prayers at Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala early Saturday, the first day of Malayalam month of 'Vrischikom,' even as a 12-hour hartal against the preventive detention of a Hindu Aikya Vedi leader began. Pilgrims, including children, queued up in large numbers since the temple opened at 3 am.The temple had opened Friday evening for the two-month-long annual pilgrim season as a stand-off continued over the entry of menstrual age women into the shrine. All regular pujas began this morning under the supervision of the new Melshanti (chief priest) Vasudevan Nampoothiri.Amid unprecedented security, Kerala State Transport Corporation buses were bringing pilgrims from Nilackal to Pamba and no services had been stopped, KSRTC sources said. Shops and hotels near the temple complex were open.However, normal life was hit elsewhere in the state as the hartal progressed; buses and auto-rickshaws remained off roads in several areas.KSRTC Managing Director Tomin J Thachankary said the corporation was running buses in Sabarimala with police protection to help pilgrims reach the temple.In Balrampuram near Thiruvananthapuram, protesters attacked a KSRTC bus and damaging its windows, he told PTI.In the state capital, passengers had a tough time in getting vehicles to reach their respective destinations due to the hartal. Many patients and their relatives were unable to reach the regional cancer centre and Thiruvananthapuram medical college hospital.The Aikya Vedi state president, K P Sasikala, who was on a pilgrimage to the Ayyappa shrine, was taken into "preventive custody" near Marakkootam, close to Sabarimala, at 2.30 am after she allegedly defied the orders, police said.Police had decided not to allow devotees enter the temple premises when it was closed for the night.

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