Devaswom board mulls over disposing damaged aravanna tins, loss of Rs 6.65 crore

Thiruvananthapuram: The Travancore Devaswom board (TDB) is in quandary as it does not know how to dispose off the 6.65 lakh tins of aravanna (offering) that is lying at the Sabarimala sannidhanam. The government and the board are yet to take a decision in this regard. There is no space to store the newly manufactured tins for this pilgrim season unless the old ones are replaced.

It was the dispute between the two contractors who were supplying cardamom in Sabarimala that caused the aravanna case to reach the Supreme court. The complaint was that the cardamom added to the offering contained pesticide in more than the permissible amount. When this was proved, the High court banned the sale of aravanna. 

With this the TDB approached the Supreme court which found that the use of pesticides was within permissible limits. But by the time that the legal proceedings were complete, the aravanna had already expired. Two weeks ago, the SC gave the order to dispose off the old aravanna.

The board has incurred a loss of Rs 6.65 crore with this. The forest and environment departments have warned against disposing off the offering in the Sabarimala forest area. Leaving it there will increase the chance of animal nuisance along with causing environmental problems. Meanwhile the TDB is of the opinion that taking the aravanna out of Sabarimala to destroy it is very difficult.

The board has approached the government to find a suitable solution for this and sources say that a discussion may be held at the government level on Monday. But even if a decision is taken in this regard, the TDB is worried whether it will be able to carry out the disposal before this year’s pilgrimage season begins. 

The TDB’s demand is that aravanna should be destroyed at the government’s expense and compensation should be collected from the contractor who went to court.