Anna University has written a letter to the Madras High Court Bench here expressing its willingness to conduct a study to find out alternative methods to draw water from the Theerthams in Rameswaram and sprinkle it on devotees.
The letter, addressed to the Registar of the High Court Bench, was submitted to a Division Bench of Justices R. Sudhakar and V.M. Velumani on Tuesday. It stated that the university had asked N.K. Ambujam, Director of Centre for Water Resources (CWR) in the university, to head the team. The university had expressed its willingness following an order passed by the court on January 23 asking it as well as the National Institute of Technology-Tiruchi to study the possibility of finding a non-electric alternative to the present method of people drawing water with buckets and pouring it on the devotees.
The public interest litigation (PIL) petitioners before the court had alleged that the present system allowed demand for exorbitant amount of money by the private individuals engaged in pouring the water from gullible devotees and tourists from other States. The NIT-Tiruchi had already submitted a report before the court detailing two different methods for sprinkling water. Hence, the judges directed court-appointed advocate commissioners to check if the suggestions made by the NIT could be implemented, and submit their opinion by March 17.
If those suggestions could not be implemented, then Anna University could be asked to conduct an independent study to come out with other alternatives, the Division Bench added.
