A portion of the wall, which is said to be over 1,100 years old, of the Lord Kallazhagar temple at Alagarkoil near here collapsed on Tuesday night following heavy rains. No one was injured in the incident, which occurred at 8.35 p.m. on Tuesday.
According to S. Kalyani, Executive Officer of the temple, a stretch of 60 feet of the wall came down on the pathway near the temple tank. The work of clearing debris began immediately and the pathway was made motorable within two hours. The 40-feet high wall finds mention in 1,100 years old-scriptures, she added.
As a temporary measure, gunny bags filled with sand would be stacked to fill up the void up to a breadth of 10 feet and height of 15 feet. Permanent repair works would be taken up after the requisite funds were mobilised.
The temple is expected Rs. 2 crore from the 13th Finance Commission to renovate the entire 3-kilometre stretch of wall that surrounds the temple. However as this was inadequate, the temple is going to prepare a proposal seeking Rs. 20 crore from a tourism fund of the Central government. The temple would also seek to raise funds from the public and donors, she said.
Temple trustees P.K.M. Chelliah, V. Gopal and J. Jawahar inspected the wall on Wednesday morning and held consultations with R. Sudarshan, Joint Commissioner (Madurai Region), Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department, other temple officials and engineers from Public Works Department (PWD).
A PWD team led by K. Ramanathan, Executive Engineer, removed the remaining debris using heavy machinery and trucks. He estimated that it would cost Rs. 30,000 per metre to renovate this portion of the wall. Speaking about other works under way at the temple, officials said that renovation and development works worth Rs. 1.02 crore was underway at the temple with funds from the Tourism Department.
They include a high-mast light at a cost of Rs. 7 lakh besides two sanitary blocks at Rs. 20 lakh and a children's eco-park at Rs. 43 lakh. A parking lot for both two and four wheelers was also constructed with Rs. 20 lakh.
In view of the upcoming kumbabhishekam to be held next year, several other works were also underway. A chemical wash and other related works was carried out at Rs. 50 lakh.
The temple's ‘vimanam' is being covered with gold rakes at a cost of Rs. 25 crore, They include a RCC roof which was being erected near the ‘Padinettam Padi mandapam' at a cost of Rs. 8.3 lakh besides two modern washrooms at Rs. 17.5 lakh cost. Rs. 12.5 lakh-Over Head Tank with a capacity of one lakh litres is being constructed. Further to facilitate smooth movement of the temple car during festivals, the mud road in the temple premises is being upgraded to a pucca road.
