Festive mood grips the city ahead of Attukal Pongala on Tuesday

Thiru
A festive mood gripped the city on Monday, as the clock wound down to the Attukal Pongala festival on Tuesday. 

Labelled as among the largest religious congregations of women in the country, thousands of families across Kerala and also neighbouring States are trickling into a six-km radius of the famed Attukal Devi Temple to offer a sacrament of rice and jaggery cooked on makeshift brick hearths. 

Customarily, residents and places of worship, including mosques and churches such as the Manacaud Valliya Palli, Palayam Juma Masjid, and St Joseph Cathedral, have opened their doors to devotees to bivouac. 

Hundreds of devotees are sleeping rough on open ground prepared by residents’ associations. Many have reserved spaces in the festival area in advance to set up Pongala hearths. Business is brisk among vendors selling earthen pots, kindling and bricks for open hearths. Several movie theatres have announced free screenings for devotees on Pongala eve. 

High-decibel sound systems, blaring, deafening music, and decorative lighting have imbued several city neighbourhoods with a festive mood. 

The festivities had their flipside. Religious processions bound for Attukal Temple from different parts of the district snarled traffic and made it difficult for the travelling public to reach bus stands, railway stations and airports. Unchecked sound pollution was the bane of students preparing for examinations and senior citizens. 

The Fire and Rescue Services have identified fire risk locations in the festival areas and positioned firefighting equipment, including fire tenders, accordingly.

The Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner, K. Karthick, reviewed the security and traffic arrangements for the event. 

The police have announced a peak deployment of 5,000 law enforcers, including women, on Pongala Day. They have marked routes for the speedy movement of emergency services if demand arises. 

The police would use CCTV networks, aerial drones, and watch towers as force multipliers. They have intensified patrolling and deployed plainclothes squads to prevent petty crime, such as necklace theft and purse snatching. The police have set up help desks for tracing missing persons, chiefly children parted from their parents in the festival rush. 

The Health Department has deployed medical teams, including those moving on two-wheelers, and ambulances at 10 locations across the festival area. It has opened a Special Control Room within the temple precincts. 

The government has opened emergency rooms equipped with beds across the festival area to treat heatstroke patients and burn victims, including at the Women and Children’s Hospital, Thycaud, and the Government Fort Hospital, as well as various schools and other institutions. It has also readied the General Hospital and the Government Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram to admit mass casualties. 

The Ayurveda and Homoeopathy Departments have also opened clinics and emergency rooms in the festival area. 

The Food Safety Department has insisted that only government-registered groups may serve food and beverages to devotees. Food safety inspectors will inspect community kitchens and distribution centres to ensure hygiene standards.