Meenakshi Temple towers being cleared of plants and shrubs
Staff Reporter
To safeguard structural stability of centuries-old structures
— PHOTO: S. JAMES
Permanent solution: Wild growth being cleared at one of the towers of Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in Madurai on Monday.
MADURAI: The towers around the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple here are being cleared of wild growth and shrubs almost after a gap of half-a-decade.
The temple authorities have embarked on a major cleaning drive with all the channels inside the temple cleaned last week.
“Removing the plants will also safeguard the structural stability of the centuries-old towers,” said B. Raja, Joint Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department and Executive Officer of the temple, The work is being carried out for free by a Chennai-based concern.
K. Muruganantham of the firm said that a chemical, Tuffelloo, invented by him is used for preventing the plant growth permanently.
“This chemical has been approved by Archaeological Survey of India and HR and CE.”
Towers in more than 6,000 temples in the State have been cleared of plant growth by him during the past two decades, he said, adding that the chemical would not harm the tower.
The chemical, which is in powder form, is mixed with cement and applied in places of plant growth.Climbing the 14 towers of the temple, whose height ranges between 150 ft to 165 ft, is no easy task. However, the tower’s architecture makes the task of the five labourers a bit simpler.
“It offers them foothold. In some temples, we have to use ropes to hang on during cleaning,” said Mr. Muruganantham.
Explaining how plants came to grow in the towers, he said that birds were the main culprits and wind also must have scattered seeds in the towers.
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