The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : `Construction of platform will obstruct movement of Tirunallar temple car'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 24, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`Construction of platform will obstruct movement of Tirunallar temple car'

By Our Staff Reporter

KARAIKAL, MAY 23. The Cauvery Delta Farmers Legal Action Committee at Karaikal has urged the Pondicherry Lt.Governor to take immediate steps to direct the Public Works Department of Pondicherry to construct the platform on the North Street at Tirunallar near here after removing the encroachments and unauthorised constructions in the street so that the temple car of the famous Tirunallar temple, the abode of Lord Saturn car, could easily come through the street during the festival.

S.P.Selvashanmugham, president of the committee in a letter to the Lt.Governor yesterday had stated that the PWD in Karaikal had been carrying out construction of platform on the North Street at Tirunallar without removing the encroachments which would obstruct the movement of the car of Sri Dharbaraneswarar temple during the Brahmotsavam.

He said that the Tirunallar temple car is known as `Aganda Ther', the biggest in size next to the famous Sri Thyagarajaswamy temple car at Tiruvarur. He pointed out that in olden days the width of the upper part of the `Ther' was maintained to 42 feet but the width was reduced to 36 feet when the temple car festival was restored in 1987 after a gap of three decades to avoid possible crash of the upper part of the temple car with the power lines that were laid in 1964 when the car festival was not in practice. Further, the drainage system provided subsequently had also been causing obstruction to the easy movement of the car particularly in the North main street of Tirunallur as the PWD constructed the system without providing sufficient space and also without removing the encroachments.

Mr.Selvashanmugham said that when the PWS had started construction of elevated platform in the North main street a few months ago, the committee as well as several expressed concern over the construction of the platform to the PWD and to the temple management and the work was stopped. But, now, the PWD was carrying out the construction of the platform in a hasty manner which would result great difficulty in pulling the temple car through the street.

He said that the committee had also appealed to the Lt.Governor to direct the Electricity department to shift the high tension lines on the North main street at Tirunallar to some other place and also the transformer near the Vinayaka temple.

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