Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president K Jayakumar on Thursday said preparations at Sabarimala ahead of the Mandala season were ongoing smoothly, with the daily production capacity of 'aravana' set to be increased by one lakh tins.

Speaking to the media after a TDB meeting, Jayakumar said the daily 'aravana' production capacity at Sannidhanam would be increased from the existing 2.6 lakh tins to 3.6 lakh tins to meet the expected demand during the pilgrimage season.

"The daily production capacity of 'aravana' at Sannidhanam is 2.6 lakh tins. It will be increased, adhering to FSSAI norms," Jayakumar said, adding that work was underway to facilitate the additional production. The TDB is also targeting a stock of 75 lakh tins of 'aravana' when the temple opens for the season.

Jayakumar said the tender process for procuring jaggery, a key ingredient in 'aravana', was under way and would be completed before October 5. The TDB's vigilance wing would verify the company that wins the tender before the contract was finalised.

"According to the procedure, the vigilance wing of the Devaswom Board has to verify the company that wins the tender before it is finalised. We need to ensure that they have the capacity and that it is not a paper company," he said, adding that the contract for purchasing the lids for 'aravana' tins would also be entered into soon. Re-tenders were issued for ingredients including dried ginger.

The TDB president said the board aimed to complete all pending tenders before October 14. No new tenders would be issued after October 31, he added.

AI-enabled crowd monitoring at Nilakkal
Jayakumar also said an AI-enabled mechanism would be introduced at Nilakkal to monitor and regulate the movement of pilgrims.

He said a meeting was held with the Pathanamthitta SP on establishing an AI-enabled control room at Nilakkal. The police would oversee the project, which was estimated to cost ₹5 crore. The tender process for procuring the cameras is currently underway.

"The AI cameras will be installed according to the requirements of the police. The police will decide where they should be installed," Jayakumar said, adding that the Devaswom Board would also set up a pandal in Nilackal with seating for 6,000 people for pilgrims to wait.

Jayakumar also spoke about the various civil works that have to be completed at Sabarimala. He said the tender process for 48 civil works at Sabarimala had been completed. Of these, works worth ₹13.5 crore have been awarded, while work worth ₹6 crore has already commenced.

Gold crown is safe in strong room
Jayakumar also dismissed reports on the alleged disappearance of a 55-sovereign gold crown at Sabarimala, saying the crown was safely kept in the strong room at Sannidhanam. He said he had spoken to Thiruvabharanam Commissioner Rejilal, who confirmed that the crown was in the strong room. Rejilal also personally inspected the strong room on Wednesday and confirmed it was there, Jayakumar said.

The crown was donated in 2012 by Vaidyanathaswamy of Tamil Nadu. According to Jayakumar, the donor adorns the deity with the crown during his annual visit to Sabarimala, after which it is kept in the strong room at Sannidhanam.

He said confusion arose because another crown of the same model was also kept there. The items in the strong room had been temporarily shifted to another strong room as part of construction activities, which led to the misunderstanding, he added.

Jayakumar said the board had verified the matter and confirmed that the gold crown was safe.