Thanchavur Damodaran who has been heading a round-the-clock stretcher unit of the Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom (ABASS) at Sabarimala is no more.
Mr. Damodaran who fell unconscious at the Sabarimala Sannidhanam was taken to Pathanamthitta General Hospital in an ambulance of the Forest Department.
But, he breathed his last near Nilackal, before reaching the hospital. The body has been kept at the hospital mortuary for post-mortem examination.
The 74-year-old Ayyappa devotee from Chennai has been extending a helping hand to ailing pilgrims at Sabarimala for the past 37 years.
Sabarimala Sannidhanam does not have any medical facility as the Government Hospital there remains closed with the closure of the Ayyappa temple, despite the fact that around 300 people, including the head priest (Melsanthi), his assistants, and 20 policemen camp there all through the year.
Mr. Damodaran had become a full-time ABASS stretcher service volunteer in the early 1980s.
He had carried as many as 1,000 bodies from the hillock to Pampa, besides shifting around 5,000 pilgrims to healthcare centres at Sabarimala, Pampa and along the trekking path during the period.
Details in a diary
Mr. Damodaran used to keep the details of all those he had carried on his shoulders during the past 37 years in a diary.
His non-stop walk carrying a snakebitten cop from the interior forest areas of Kunnar at Sabarimala to Pampa was much talked about.
Mr. Damodaran was awarded a ‘certificate for best service’ by the police 10 years ago.
