Three days after discussion with the management committee of the Aadhi Vinayagar Temple at the Ganapathy Bus Terminus, the Coimbatore Corporation along with National Highways removed a portion of the temple to ease the flow of traffic.
Mayor P. Rajkumar said that the Corporation began the work a little after 5 a.m. and completed it around noon. the workers, using heavy machinery, removed the corridor of the century-old Temple – a portion of which was on Corporation land. It did not touch the sanctum, though.
The civic body could take up the work after the Temple trustees consented to demolishing the corridor to ensure that the Sathyamangalam Road, a National Highway, was widened and the vehicle flow improved.
Town Planning Officer in-charge S. Ravichandran said that the Corporation retrieved around 1,000 sq.ft. from the temple and another 2,000-odd sq.ft. by removing a nearby temple and shops attached there to. The Corporation also shifted a pole from near the temple to the eastern end of the Road.
Trustees G.M. Aaruchamy, N. Duraiswamy, A. Nanjappan and G.R. Jayaramu said that they had no objection to the Corporation demolishing the corridor as it was for a public cause and a portion of the structure that was to be removed was on Corporation land.
J.R. Selvakumar, a Ganapathy resident, said that though the temple was around a century-old, the Temple grew to the present size only in the recent past. The locality got its name, Ganapathy, from the Aadi Vinayagar Temple, which the people called ‘Nalla Ganapathy Koil’.
He said the move would reduce travel time on the contentious stretch of the Sathyamangalam Road.
Meanwhile, the Corporation officials said that the survey for widening the Sathyamangalam Road and identifying encroachment was complete and that the work would start in the coming weeks, in a phased manner.
The Corporation was in talks with a few land owners to also explore the possibility of acquiring land for the road expansion.