Curtain goes up on 10-day Kalpathy car festival

Final touches being given to one of the chariots at Kalpathy ahead of the annual car festival.

The 10-day annual Kalpathy car festival began on Saturday with traditional rituals marking the start of one of Keralam’s well-known temple festivals. The ceremonial hoisting of flags (Dwajarohanam) at the four participating temples will take place on Sunday morning.

The festival is jointly organised by four temples in the Kalpathy heritage village: Visalakshi Sametha Viswanatha Swami Temple, Kalpathy; Manthakkara Mahaganapathy Temple, New Kalpathy; Lakshmi Narayan Perumal Temple, Old Kalpathy; and Prasanna Mahaganapathy Temple, Chathapuram. The festival will conclude on November 17.

With large crowds expected, the district police, government departments, Palakkad municipality and temple committees have coordinated security, traffic and other arrangements.

The temple committees have sought crowd management measures, police deployment and safety arrangements along the chariot routes and riverbanks. They have also called for restrictions on roadside vending and parking to keep the routes and approach roads clear.

The committees have proposed using open grounds, including the Government Victoria College ground, for vehicle parking and operating KSRTC mini-buses as shuttle services between the parking areas and the festival venue.

District police chief Abdul Rashi said the police would ensure security and work with the government departments, municipality and temple committees to manage the festival. The municipality has also assured support.

Ramesh Pisharody, MLA, said he would get the consent of the Ministers concerned to get Victoria College grounds for parking and KSRTC shuttle services to the venue.