Sabarimala: Vedivazhipadu, the ritual offering fireworks, has been completely stopped at Sannidhanam here in the wake of a recent mishap that left three persons injured.
The Sannidhanam police issued a notice to the Travancore Devaswom Board and the contractor, directing that the ritual should not be carried out without first putting adequate safety measures in place.
Three workers involved in firecracker offerings suffered burns after the crackers accidentally went off during their preparation near Annadana mandapam at Malikappuram temple on Monday evening. The fireworks unit storing explosives at Malikappuram was closed soon after the incident. Even then, two other units continued to function near Valiyanadapandal and Koprakalam. Now all of them stopped functioning from Wednesday onwards.
Meanwhile, District Collector Divya S Iyer handed over a preliminary inquiry report to Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan in which it was stated that the mishap at Malikappuram didn’t happen because of any explosion while filling the gunpowder.
Various agencies like police, fire force, and the Disaster Management Authority carried out inspections at different units in and around Sabarimala on Wednesday too in the wake of the mishap.
