The government’s proposal to dismantle the ‘Rajagopuram’ of the Amaralingeswara Swamy temple and build a new one in its place has incurred the wrath of the temple trust board members, who vowed to stall the demolition saying that the historic structure is not in such a dilapidated condition that requires dismantling.
Trust Board members M. Srinivasa Rao, V. Gopala Rao, D. Brahma Rao and Ch. Koteswara Rao appealed to the contractors not to file tenders for dismantling the structure against the advice of the expert committee that was constituted by the Endowments Department itself.
They opined that the nearly 200-year-old structure could be strengthened by concrete pillars as suggested by the experts.
In the action plan for structural assessment and repair of the ‘Rajagopuram’, experts from the Civil Engineering Department of IIT Madras and the REACH Foundation asserted that “the nature of distress in the Rajagopuram does not warrant demolition of the brick masonry part of the structure and engineering solutions for repairing the existing damages in it are available and feasible.”
The Endowments Department sought to go ahead with dismantling of the ‘Rajagopuram’ without applying its mind to recommendations of the expert committee, they alleged.
The temple trust board members said that the Endowments Department had got the `Mukkoti Mandapam’ dismantled earlier and did not take up its reconstruction and the ‘Rajagopuram’ is destined to meet the same fate. If the proposal is carried forward, they plan to tender resignations and take up cudgels against the ill-conceived project.
