SABARIMALA: They count the Lord’s cash at Sabarimala sannidhanam but have to put up with the worst humiliation of cavity search if Travancore Devaswom Board officials suspect pilferage.
With no end in sight to the age-old problem, the staff are getting ready to petition Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding among other things modernization of the strong room, where offerings are sorted and counted, by installing sophisticated snooping machines.
Officials, headed by a deputy commissioner, monitor the counting on the CCTV network but that’s not fool proof. If they suspect theft, counting staff are subjected to manual search for the hidden wealth.
It could be a pat down, frisking or cavity search. Till three years ago, employees in the counting room were not even allowed to wear the underwear after some were caught with concealed currencies.
There were instances of money found shoved up the rectum, prompting the Devaswom vigilance staff to resort to the extreme step.
All offerings land in a strong room, where they are sorted by staff, drawn from different sections of the Devaswom Board. Some 50 to 60 employees sort and count mostly currency notes and coins round the clock at the Ayyappa shrine during the pilgrim season from November to January.
Devaswom Board Employees Confederation general secretary G Vasudevan Namboodiri told DC that installing scanners was possibly a solution. “But there has been no consensus because of the fear that frequent exposure to scanner might be unhealthy. The jury is still out. But the primitive system has to end”.
