Poor maintenance of Sri Subramanya Swami temple at Kumara Vayalur, popularly known as Vaylur Murugan temple, has been causing concern among pilgrims.
Besides the outer praharam, the temple, surrounded on all four sides by lush green fields, has a main praharam, where the main deities Sri Subramanya, Sri Adhinathar and Sri Adhinayaki are located. The temple has everything to offer to the devotees, who throng it from different parts of the State seeking blessings. But what is worrying is poor mechanism and insufficient staff in maintaining the temple. There are many dirty spots inside the praharam suggesting poor maintenance. Dark and oil stains greet devotees, who offer prayer in front of the deities including “navagraha.” Devotees throw away plastic goods and eatables. Some others, who are supposed to take home the holy “vibuthi” and “kumkum,” discard them on pillars and artefacts.
“I have visited various temples in Tiruchi district but it is the worst maintained temple,” said a devotee pointing out plastic bags and stained cloths in a corner of the temple.
Inquiries reveal that the temple has not recruited cleaners for so long. Instead, it has employed a small group of workers for maintenance. The number is highly inadequate to keep the temple neat and clean during peak season. Moreover, there was no effective monitoring to supervise the cleaning work.
