NILACKAL: Pressed for enhanced infrastructure requirements, the Travancore Devaswom Board has started felling around 1,400 rubber trees to create additional parking space at the Nilackal parking ground. The trees are being selectively felled depending upon the terrain. Trees on even ground are being felled and transported to a plywood factory in Perumbavoor The decision to focus all operations at Nilackal for this season has kept devaswom board officials on their toes, trying to cater to various needs. An official with the board at Nilackal said that in the previous year, 15,000 vehicles could be parked at a time at Nilackal. This year they had to make up for the spaces lost at Hilltop, Triveni and Thekkupalam. According to officials, Hilltop accommodated 1,500-1,700 vehicles while Triveni could offer space for 1,200 vehicles. Thekkupalam also accommodated nearly 500 vehicles and the capacity varied with size of the vehicle. With all vehicles directed to be parked at Nilackal, officials had to find additional space to accommodate around 3,000 more vehicles."We are making space as per requirement. Our initial assessment is that 1,400 rubber trees could be cleared to make space for the present needs," said a devaswom board official.KSRTC is also running a full-fledged bus station at Nilakkal, operating around 200 buses. KSRTC officials said that this number could rise and more space would be needed.The concentration of vehicles at Nilackal has opened up spaces on the way to Pampa and at various parts of Pamba. Roadside parking has been completely stopped and Hilltop is the only parking slot available at Pampa. The works to restore the parking slot which was damaged in floods at Triveni are still on and huge mounds of sand are being levelled at present.It's not just parking, more requirements are being met in terms of drinking water and water storage. Twenty-five reverse osmosis plants with 1,000 litre per hour capacity have been installed at Nilackal. Three hundred water kiosks with 900 taps have been put up. In addition to existing storage of 50 lakh litres, 25 lakh litres of water is being supplied daily by KWA. Three new sheds measuring 1,200 sq m have been constructed for pilgrims. Container toilets equipped with a collection tank of 9,000 litre capacity have also been installed."The opening week of Mandala season has thrown up fresh challenges for us. It took a great effort to prepare Nilackal as the base camp this year. We might have to shore up facilities as the season proceeds," the official said.

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