Stating that the recent fire has caused extensive damage to Veeravasantharayar Mandapam inside Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, Arun Menon, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, who is part of a 12-member committee formed to assess the damage and advise on restoration, said priority would be on salvage operations.
Speaking to the media after the first inspection of the site on Thursday, Mr. Menon, whose research interests include structural conservation of historical monuments, said that critical locations in the roughly 7,000 square feet of damaged area was identified and temple authorities were advised on steps to be taken to avoid further damage.
Apart from avoiding any further damage, he said that providing structural support to damaged portions was important for even the technicians and other labourers to work safely in the clearing of debris and subsequent assessment and restoration work. He said that though the adjacent Thousand Pillar Hall was unaffected in the fire, the temple authorities were given advice on precautions to be taken to avoid any damage to the hall because of potential collapse of any part of the Veeravasantharayar Mandapam or during the salvage operations.
Temple Fit Person Karumuttu T. Kannan, who is part of the committee, said that documentation of the assessment and steps to be taken for restoration would be discussed in subsequent meetings. He added that no particular time frame had been decided for the committee’s work at this stage. On allocation of funds from the government for the restoration work, he said that it would be taken care of by funds available with the temple.
When asked about the evacuation of all shops from the temple, he said the temple administration was of the view that the shops had to be removed as they posed risk for its safety.
V. Balasubramaniam, Chief Engineer (retired), Public Works Department, who chairs the committee; N. Natarajan, Joint Commissioner, Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, member-secretary, and other members were present during the inspection.
