Thrissur: The crisis surrounding this year's Thrissur Pooram continues, with the state government failing to inform the Kerala High Court about decisions made in a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on December 29, regarding the ground fee of the pooram exhibition.
The government representative didn't turn up for the second consecutive time. The matter was taken up by the court on Tuesday as well and had to be postponed to yesterday. Now the hearing has been postponed to January 16.
“We just don’t know why the government is not presenting their decisions at the court. It is becoming difficult to start the preparation for the smooth conduct of the Thrissur Pooram and Pooram Exhibition, as every single day goes by,” Paramekkavu Devaswom Secretary Rajesh G told Onmanorama.
The Thrissur Pooram exhibition begins on April 1 and will be open till the third week of May.
The issue started when the Cochin Devaswom Board (CDB) increased the ground fee of Thekkinkad Maidan for conducting the Pooram Exhibition from Rs 39 lakhs to Rs 2.20 crore unilaterally. CDB is the trustee of Thekkinkad Maidan and every year, Paramekkavu-Thiruvambady Devaswoms pay a fee as a ground fee for holding the pooram exhibition.
Soon after the unprecedented hike in ground fee, the office-bearers of both Paramekkavu and Thiruvambadi Devaswoms declared on December 18 that they would limit this year’s Thrissur Pooram festival to mere a ceremony, if the Cochin Devaswom Board, which owns the Vadakkumnathan temple ground, doesn’t withdraw its decision to increase the ground fee. Pooram Exhibition is one of the major revenue income for both the devaswom for the smooth conduct of the Thrissur Pooram.
In the meeting on December 29, it was also decided that the decisions would be presented before the High Court which has already taken a suo moto action on the matter of ground fee earlier.
During the visit to Thrissur on January 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also criticised the state government stating that the kind of politics over Thrissur Pooram was unfortunate. His remark led to a national-level attention to the issue.
