VSK TN
Ayyappa devotees from Andhra find highly motivated swayamsevaks in Salem
Recently, the volunteers of Ayyappa Sewa Samajam was on the relief work of deceased persons when a van carrying Ayyappa devotees from Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh. The van met with an accident when the van collided with a bus at Thoppur, near Salem, Tamilnadu killing seven pilgrims in the early hours of the day. Two persons who were survived were admitted in the hospital. The DSP Muthu Karruppan and SP Muthusamy along with volunteers, tried to trace the whereabouts of the deceased persons. The volunteers of Ayyappa Sewa Samajam suggested that the addresses and details can be traced through mail for verification, so that the two persons admitted in the hospital were not disturbed. They took photo of the departed persons, called the relatives over phone, and took their mail id. They sent the photos for verification through mail. A police official was kind enough to offer as his contribution, a part of the expense. The entire expenses for post-mortem, ambulance etc. were met by the volunteers. The Salem unit of Ayyappa Seva Sangam helped in arranging ambulances to send the bodies to the natives to Guntur. To cap it all, when the ambulance entered the native village carrying the dead bodies after post-mortem, it is reported that around 15000 villagers were waiting. The anxiety of the villagers resulted in a glass pane of the ambulance getting broken. The driver was so impressed by the size of the mourning crowd that he did not press for the re-imbursement of the broken window.
It is to be remembered that High Court of Kerala had recommended the services of the Samajam for helping Ayyappa devotees during the pilgrimage. It is remarkable that the Samajam came into being as a result of extensive field study of the pilgrim route to Sabarimala by Swayamsevaks.
