Kottayam : The contractors boycotted the auction for the shops, by the Devaswom board. The contractors protested, backing the devotees for the protection of the customs of Sabarimala. This is the third the auction was rescheduled as nobody came to the auctioneer. This time the contractors expressed their stand that they will not buy shops from the devaswom board which is not supporting the devotees.
The devaswom board faced lose of more than one crore. Near about 40 shops are still not auctioned. The income of the temple after the first 5 days of darshana also faced depreciation. The empty prasada counters are another trapdoor to decline in income.