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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, February 17, 2005: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has agreed to provide a special package for the Ayyappa temple in Kerala’s Sabarimala hills and to convert it to a national pilgrimage center, the temple authorities said. According to them, Singh, who met Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president G. Raman Nair on Tuesday, also accepted an invitation to visit the shrine. “The first demand was to see 200 acres of forest land near the holy shrine handed over to TDB, the second was to declare Sabrimala as a national pilgrimage center and the third an invitation to the prime minister to visit the shrine,” Nair said. According to Nair, Singh has assured him to personally oversee the Sabarimala package. The peak Sabarimala season begins mid-November and extends to mid-January and attracts more than a million pilgrims.

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