Pathanamthitta: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the Global Ayyappa Sangamam at Pampa here on Friday at 10.00 am. Devaswom Minister VN Vasavan will preside over the ceremony. The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and police are on high alert after the Kerala High Court directed that the event be conducted without inconveniencing pilgrims arriving for darshan at the Lord Ayyappa temple.

The TDB is organising the event as part of its diamond jubilee celebrations. It will unveil the Sabarimala Master Plan aimed at securing sponsors for major development projects at the hill shrine. Projects worth ₹1,300 crore, focused on improving infrastructure, will be presented.

Around 3,500 people from Kerala, neighbouring states, and abroad are expected to attend. Manorama News reported that invitees began arriving at the venue from the early hours of Friday. Tamil Nadu Ministers Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and PK Sekar Babu have been invited.

SNDP Yogam General Secretary Vellappally Natesan and NSS Vice-President M Sangeeth Kumar will participate, representing their respective community organisations.

The conference will feature panel discussions on the Sabarimala Master Plan, spiritual pilgrimage circuits, disaster preparedness, crowd management, and the preservation of Sabarimala’s spiritual and ecological heritage.

Parallel event in Delhi
Marking their protest, a parallel programme of Ayyappa devotees will be held in Delhi today. Former Supreme Court judge Indu Malhotra will inaugurate the event at 5 pm. Delhi Minister Parvesh Verma and MP Bansuri Swaraj will also attend. Right-wing outfits, including Sangh Parivar, are organising the programme at the RK Puram Ayyappa temple.

The Delhi event has been convened to press various demands, including scrapping cases related to the Sabarimala women-entry protests, declaring Sabarimala a national pilgrimage centre, and ending discrimination against devotees based on financial status.