Erosion batters Shangumugham beach

Thiruvananthapuram: With sea erosion having battered Shangumgham beach, the believers who plan to offer ‘Vavubali’ to their ancestors here on Saturday should scout for other locations, suggest officials.

Only around 20 metres of the beach will be available for people to pay offerings. Last year, around 1000 people could offer bali here at a time.

On the other hand, Thiruvallam Parasurama temple will be equipped to accommodate more people and will have nine mandapams to host an estimated 55,000 people.   The irrigation department has been asked to flush out water into bali kadavu at Thiruvallam from nearby check dams every hour, a corporation official said.

At Aruvikkara, breakfast will be provided to an estimated 10,000 people who will come to pay offerings. A trade fair connected to Vavubali will begin on Tuesday and end on the final day.

Apart from these locations, Papanasam beach at Varkala, Kadin-amkulam, Keraladityapuram, Kaladi and Thrivikram-amangalam will have facilities to offer Vavubali.

Around 800 policemen will be available on duty en route Thiruvallam. CCTVs have been installed and the KSRTC will operate special services from various areas. Around 500 sanitation workers will be deployed by the corporation to clean ‘Bali Shistam’ from the venues constantly.