Nilackal: “Hail the Kerala government. You are truly making darshan very easy,” Anand, an exasperated devout from Karnataka muttered mockingly after he failed to make it to the last bus to Pamba when the service was halted at 8pm on Sunday.Anand and five of his friends are regular pilgrims to Sabarimala and they were forced to idle away four hours at the overcrowded resting place at Nilackal. The time regulations imposed by police to call off services for specified period during day (12 noon to 2pm) and at night (8pm to 12am) have not gone down well with the pilgrims. Police say that they are doing this to ensure manageable crowd in and around Sannidhanam.It was mad rush at Nilakkal bus stand around 8pm when the police directed KSRTC authorities to call off services for four hours till 12am. All the low-floor buses, which had been lined up for service, had to be emptied as police went around asking the pilgrims to go to the resting place.Annoyed, the pilgrims picked up an argument with the officials at the station officer’s counter but they expressed their helplessness. “It was far worse during day time. We had filled at least two buses when police would not let us operate the service from 12 noon to 2pm. The pilgrims, including kids were sweltering inside the overcrowded non-AC bus,” a KSRTC official said.The new regulation had caught a group of 100 devotees from Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu unawares. “Some of our members have already left for Pamba, but they wouldn’t let us go. Now, we have to kill time here for four hours. The authorities shouldn’t punish us like this,” said Rajendran, the group leader.At the resting places pilgrims are struggling to find space. Adding to this is the stench from nearby toilets. There are no separate toilets for women pilgrims and owing to unhygienic condition many of them don’t even use them.The bus station at Nilackal currently operates a fleet of around 200 buses. The authorities have managed to bring in a system over the past two days but the officials and staff are left to deal with the ire of passengers. From 8am to 8pm, 183 trips were operated from Nilakkal on Sunday, the highest number so far since the beginning of Mandalakalam.“Everything goes smoothly till the timing regulations are imposed. The police claim that they are doing this to regulate crowd but there was hardly any crowd at Pamba and Sannidhanam today,” a KSRTC staff said.

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