Thiruvananthapuram: Continuing the drive against the Sabarimala protesters, the police arrested over 650 more people from various parts of the state on Friday, taking the total arrests in this connection to 2,061.
A total of 452 cases were registered and non-bailable charges were invoked against about 470 people. Nearly 150 were remanded in judicial custody till Friday evening. About 1,600 were released on bail from the police stations.
Since the Prevention of Damage to Public Prop-erty Act was invoked against many accused, they would have to deposit the cost of damage to obtain bail. In some cases, the extent of damage was evaluated by the police to be '13 lakh. About 49 KSRTC buses were damaged in various parts of the state in Sabarimala-related agitations and KSRTC had estimated the extent of loss to Rs 1.25 crore, including the revenue loss. Meanwhile, as part of the security ...
preparations for the two-month Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season beginning on November 16, the government has declared all roads to the hill shrine as special security zone from November 15 to January 20, 2019. The roads at Elavunkal, Chalakkayam, Pampa, Neelimala, Sannidhanam, Swami Ayyappan Road, Panditavalam, Upputhara, Pullumedu, Kozhikkanam and Sathram as well as the one-km surrounding areas would be notified as special security zone. This would enable the police to impose restrictions on the movement of the people.
State police chief Loknath Behera said on Friday that all arrangements were being made to ensure the safety of any woman turning up for darshan.
A comprehensive digital queue management system linking KSRTC bus reservation system was also being developed by the police. Time slots would be offered in the system and the devotees would have to opt for time slots of their choice. The police plan to strictly ban movement of vehicles carrying pilgrims beyond Nilakkal. All pilgrims, other than VIPs, will have to go by KSRTC buses. By streamlining the entire pilgrim movement through a digital queue, the police also plan to collect the identity of everyone turning up.
