Prohibitory orders in Sabarimala can't be withdrawn: Kerala government

The LDF government in Kerala Thursday made it clear that the prohibitory orders imposed at the Sabarimala temple cannot be withdrawn now even as the Satyagraha by three opposition UDF MLAs at the state Assembly against the curbs entered its fourth dayThe lawmakersV S Sivakumar Congress Parakkal Abdullah Indian Union Muslim League and N Jayaraj Kerala CongressMani had launched the indefinite Satyagraha on December 3 demanding a lifting of prohibitory orders at Sabarimala and providing more facilities to the pilgrimsState Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said in the Assembly that the CPMled Left Democratic Front government was not adamant in facilitating the entry of young women at the hilltop temple and it would not have been difficult to take thousands of such women there if it had really wantedHe was replying to a question on the Sabarimala issue raised by independent MLA and Janapaksham leader P C GeorgeThe Left government was bound to implement the September 28 Supreme Court verdict permitting women of all age groups into the Lord Ayyappa shrine Surendran said adding they had no plan to bring out any legislation regarding the entry of women of a traditionally barred age group of 1050 years thereAmid a war of words with opposition members Surendran informed the House that Section 144 imposed at Sannidhanam the temple complex and the premises were not against devotees but to regulate antisocials who attempted to indulge in violenceReferring to the incidents of alleged violence unleashed by the rightwing activists in the garb of protesting against the implementation of the verdict the minister said the RSS had run riot in Sabarimala and the restrictions were to ensure that such incidents were not repeatedPilgrims have not faced any hardship due to the invoking of Section 144 so far It is not against devotees but only to regulate antisocials There is no way to withdraw the prohibitory orders now Surendran saidHe rejected the UDF charge that the government had interfered in the functioning and powers of the Travancore Devaswom Board TDB the apex temple body which manages the Lord Ayyappa shrineRegarding the controversy over awarding the annadanam free meal contract at Sabarimala to an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSS outfit he said cutting across political lines several individuals and outfits had been contributing rice and provisions for the schemeThe TDB cannot take into account politics while accepting rice for annadanam he saidThe minister also reiterated the governments stand that the tantri hereditary head priest of the Sabarimala temple was one among over 6000 employees of the TDBThe tantri can act only in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Board Surendran addedThe leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala sought Speaker P Sreeramakrishnans intervention to end the United Democratic Front MLAs Satyagraha for which the latter gave assuranceCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever