Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan visited the Sabarimala temple to review the arrangements for the three-month ‘Mandala Magaravilakku’ pilgrimage season.

The Chief Minister walked the eight kilometre dense forest terrain to reach the hill top. It took one-and-a-half hours for him to cover the distance.

State Ministers Kdakampally Surendran, Mathew T. Thomas, G Sudhakaran, K. Raju, legislator Raju accompanied him.

He also visited the shrine of Sri Vavar Sami and received blessings from the priest Abdul Rashid Musaliar. The Chief Minister later told newspersons that his Government was committed to change through development to the shrine. “We should try to avoid constructing more buildings near the shrine,” he added.

V.S. Achuthanandan had visited the shrine when he was the Chief Minister. But he did not enter the sanctum sanctorum.