Mangaluru: The street leading to the Kollur Sri Mookambika Temple, which usually bustled with devotees from Kerala during Onam, was quiet with less than half the usual number making it this year. The long queues for darshan and prasadam have also become smaller not only at the Kollur temple , but at almost all the prominent temples on the state's coast with the floods and landslides in Kerala and parts of Karnataka too keeping the devotees away.
The biggest impact, however, has been felt at the Kollur temple, which receives most of its devotees from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. "The Kollur Mookambika temple is crowded during Onam as traditionally many from Kerala come here to offer prayers after the celebration in their towns. But this time the number of devotees from that state has fallen by about 50 per cent due to the floods and landslides," said a temple spokesman Head of the Kukke Subrahmanya Temple management committee, Nityananda Mundodi agrees that the number of devotees coming to it has fallen over the last 20 days. "Our daily revenue through sevas has fallen from the usual Rs 10 to 15 lakh to about Rs 3 lakh," he revealed.
With the NH 73 at Shiradi, connecting Mangaluru and Bengaluru, and the NH 275 at Sampaje , connecting Mangaluru, Madikeri, Mysuru and Bengaluru damaged by landslides and train services between Mangaluru and Bengaluru hit as well, people, who normally opt for a package tour of the Kukke Subrahmanya, Dharmasthala, Udupi and Kollur temples , among others, have stayed away too.
