Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 14 (IANS) Dhanalakshmi Bank, the principal banker to the Travancore Devasom Board that runs the famed Sabarimala temple in Kerala, has said it is all prepared for the Sabarimala pilgrim season that begins Monday.
Two state-of-the-art note counting machines, two coin counting machines and around 700 employees are all ready for the season, Dhanalakshmi Bank general manager P.G. Jayakumar told reporters here Friday night.

“We have a full-fledged branch at the foothills (of Sabarimala) and another one near the temple, which stays open whenever the temple is open,” said Jayakumar.

The Kerala-based bank since 1977 has been the the principal banker to the Travancore Devasom Board, which runs 1,208 temples in the southern districts of the state.

The Sabarimala temple in Pathanamthitta district is one of the most famous Hindu pilgrim centres in India.

The temple, situated on the top of a hill, is accessible only by foot from Pamba river.

Though the temple is open throughout the year, the peak pilgrimage season begins on the first day of the Malayalam month of Vrischikam in November and closes in the Malayalam month of Dhanu in early January. Then it reopens in the Malayalam month of Makaram for the famous Makara Jyoti festival on Makara Sankranti in mid-January.

“Last year we counted more than Rs.130 crore offerings that came to the temple during the two-month season and it included around Rs.18 crore worth of coins. This season obviously the collection will be higher and hence we are also fully ready,” Jayakumar said.

The coin counting machines are being used for the first time this season, he said.

Added Manish Kumar, human resources general manager of the bank: “More than 700 full-time employees of our bank are posted in turns for the season. We employ another 300 volunteers.”

Like last year, this season also devotees can buy coupons for the “prasadam” (offering) from any of the 251 branches of the bank and then can collect it from the 24 counters of the temple that are also managed by the bank.

This time the bank is also offering an accident insurance policy for the devotees for a premium of Rs.50 for an assured amount of Rs.100,000.

Last season, a record 40 million pilgrims visited the temple and the number is expected to go up further this year.