Kerala State Road Transport Corporation ties up with temples for special services

Kochi: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has tied up with the temple managements in Thrissur and Kottayam districts to run special ‘Nalambala darshan’ services where the buses will wait for the pilgrims to offer prayers at a temple and come back before proceeding to the next temple.

“The services will be conducted from Irinjalakuda, Thrissur and Pala depots from Thursday (July 17) —the start of the Karkkidakam malayalam month referred to as the Ramayana month,” a senior official said.

Of late, the ‘Nalambala darshan’ is gaining popularity among the devotees. They offer prayers at four temples named after the presiding deities of Lord Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrugna which is considered auspicious.

“We’ve worked out a tie-up with the respective temple managements to allow quick darshan to such devotees and a separate queue for them so that they can catch the same bus to go to the next temple,” the officer said.

Two buses from the Irinjalakuda depot would start services at 6 am and 6.30 am respectively from the Irinjalakuda Koodalmanickam temple during the next month. The buses would proceed to Triprayar Sri Rama temple a good 20 kms away, then to Moozhikkulam Sree Lakshmanapermal temple (near Angamaly) and Payammal Temple (8 kms from Irinjalakuda) to reach back by around noon.

“The Bus from Thrissur depot leaves the depot at 6.40 pm and follows the same route. In Kottayam district, two buses from the Pala depot would conduct the special services linking Ramapuram Sree Ramaswamy Temple, Koodappulam Sree Lakshmanaswamy Temple, Amanakara Sree
Bharathaswamy Temple and Methiri Shree Sathrughnaswamy Temple,” he said.

The fares would be that of ordinary services and anyone can board from any bustop and get off at another.