Arrangements in place in Sathuragiri

A temporary bus stand has been established where 20 buses could be parked. A high-mast light had been provided there for the benefit of devotees who were expected to throng the place throughout day and night till Saturday.

An arduous climb to Sundaramahalingar Temple in Sathuragiri.

Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place at Sundaramahalingam Temple in Sathuragiri hills on the Western Ghats ahead of Adi Amavasai festival on Friday.

Since eight pilgrims were washed away in flash floods in May, the authorities from Madurai and Virudhunagar districts have taken elaborate precautionary measures for the festival which is likely to attract over one lakh devotees. While the Virudhunagar district administration along with the police, revenue, fire service and other departments are taking care of facilities and crowd management on the foothills in Thaniparai, the Madurai district administration is looking after their safety and facilities on the hill. “Over 1,500 officials from the revenue, police, fire service, medical, local administration and town panchayats are involved in the work on the foothills,” Virudhunagar Collector V. Rajaraman said.

A temporary bus stand has been established where 20 buses could be parked. A high-mast light had been provided there for the benefit of devotees who were expected to throng the place throughout day and night till Saturday. Solar lights had been installed from Maharajapuram to Thaniparai.

Drinking water facilities, with a new overhead tank and public fountains at several places, had been provided.

Lighting

Madurai Collector L. Subramanian said that lights with generator facility had been provided from the foothills to the temple for the first time. Flashlights had been kept ready in vulnerable areas where teams of officials and personnel from revenue, police, fire and forests departments would be stationed. Several steep and unfriendly locations had been levelled using sand bags so that the devotees would not find it difficult to climb up or down. Ropes had been provided for them to get a better grip while going through difficult areas. Rope ladders had been provided, the Collector said. Besides setting up control rooms in the base and atop the hill, additional communication equipment had been installed to provide seamless connectivity on an eight km stretch of the hill. Besides the police wireless, a voluntary organisation had also established VHF communication facility.

Medical teams with oxygen cylinder and nebulisers had been positioned at different locations on the hills. Ambulances had been kept ready at Thaniparai and Vazhaithoppu (Madurai district) to meet emergency needs. “We are distributing oral re-hydration solution at vantage points to all the devotees to prevent dehydration while climbing the hills,” Mr. Subramanian said.

Hospitals in Usilampatti, Ezhumalai and Watrap had been asked to keep ready to meet emergency situations. Precautions

Superintendents of Police Vijayendra Bidari (Madurai) and S. Maheswaran (Virudhunagar),were camping in the foothills to monitor security arrangements. Besides crowd management, the police were taking extra precaution to keep devotees away from water bodies, especially on the wild streams, in the event of rain. They had planned to regulate the devotees at the foothills, if it rained. The bandobust would continue till August 18, Mr. Maheswaran said.