The Kerala government has said separate queues for women in the Sabarimala temple is “simply not possible” but will introduce a 1-lakh daily limit on the number of all devotees and reserve for women 25 per cent seats in state-run buses bound for a site close to the shrine in a forest.

Following up on the Supreme Court verdict on Friday that allowed women of all ages to enter the Swami Ayyappa temple, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan chaired a high-level meeting of all relevant departments and the Travancore Devaswom Board, the autonomous body that governs temples, on Monday.

The meeting was held to ensure facilities are in place for women who can visit the temple starting this month.

Temple affairs minister Kadakampally Surendran told reporters after the meeting in Thiruvananthapuram that 25 per cent of seats in all state transport buses plying between Nilakkal and Pampa would be reserved for women pilgrims.

Nilakkal is the base camp in Pathanamthitta district in southern Kerala, from where devotees head to the temple inside the forest. Those who arrive by public transport usually take special buses to Pampa, 22km away, from where they walk for about 5km to the temple.

The meeting also decided to launch online ticket reservation facility to help women plan their trips and be assured of seats on the state transport buses, said Surendran.

The minister said a special queue system for women was “simply not possible.” “Sometimes devotees would have to wait for eight to 10 hours to enter the temple. Only those willing to face such difficulties need to go there,” the minister said.

The number of pilgrims who enter the sanctum sanctorum of the temple will be limited to 1 lakh a day to ensure sufficient time and space for women. There was no such limit until now. “We plan to build washrooms for women all along the route from Pampa to the temple and deploy police women at all places,” the minister said.

The temple opens for five days from the first day of every Malayalam month — the next available window starts on October 18 — and for the main pilgrimage season from November 17.

Since a large number of pilgrims comes from all southern states, the minister said each of these states would be consulted while chalking out plans for women.

Former chief minister and Congress leader Oommen Chandy wrote to the chief minister, asking him not to take any immediate follow-up action based on the court verdict and take into account the age-old beliefs of Ayyappa devotees. The erstwhile government headed by Chandy had taken a stand in favour of the belief that women of reproductive age should not enter the shrine.