After assessing the condition of the temple cars, including the Golden Car and the three Wooden Cars at the famous Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple here, the HR&CE Department would take a decision to either renovate or replace them with new ones, said HR&CE Minister Sekar Babu on Saturday.
The Minister was here to inspect the cars and the ‘theertha vari’ spots which required renovation.
Speaking to reporters, he said that Chief Minister M. K. Stalin had earmarked ₹100 crore for the HR&CE Department to carry out renovation and among other works, which only showed the government’s commitment towards good and fair administration.
Instead of finding fault with the previous AIADMK regime, which had done nothing tangible in the temple administration over the last nine years, the CM had clearly stated to focus on implementing the promises made during the election manifesto.
Moving on the right direction, Mr Sekar Babu said that he had been visiting all the major temples in the State and as part of renovation of unused temple cars, steps would be initiated to put them to use. With regard to the cars here, he said that after inspection by the experts, they would be either renovated or replaced with new ones.
When asked about the kumbabishekam for Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple, he said that the last kumbabishekam was performed in 2016.
Responding to a query that there were no basic amenities at the temple, such as drinking water and rest rooms, though a large number of devotees visited the temple and every month the revenue earned alone accounted for ₹75 lakh to ₹90 lakh, he said that estimates were being prepared on 47 major temples identified as I Grade across the State. Very soon, basic amenities would be in place, he assured and said in the next phase, 529 temples would be taken up.
Only after COVID-19 pandemic subsided, the devotees would have access to the 22 theerthams. All the immovable properties belonging to the temples would be retrieved by the HR&CE administration. “The government is clear in this objective...” he underlined and said that already, out of 158 properties which were encroached, 60-65 among them were identified and steps were taken to retrieve them.
