VELLORE: “Temples are not mere places of worship. They are monuments with a rich heritage left behind by our ancestors that required sustained protection and development,’’ said HR and CE minister P K Periyakaruppan. He was participating at the lay the foundation for a rope car system for the Sholinghur hill temple on Sunday.
Law minister Durai Murugan laid the foundation for the Rs 6.5-crore project that is expected to go operational by next year. Describing the occasion as “historic”, Periyakaruppam claimed that the DMK government had done much more for the renovation and preservation of temples than the AIADMK. Out of the 960 temple cars in the State, 112 have been repaired and Rs 9.85 crore has been allocated to perform kumbabhishekam in 84 temples.
The Minister said that the Chief Minister had sanctioned the rope car system for Sholinghur heeding to the long-pending demand from the locals especially the local MLA Arul Anbarasu.
He said that once the rope car became operational, it would bring more number of pilgrims from across the country, thus putting the temple town on the map of spiritual tourism.
The kumbabishekam of the Sholinghur temple, which was interrupted due to the shortage of gold for plating the vimanam at the gopuram, would be completed by September, the minister said.
Ranipet MLA R Gandhi, who is the president of the Temple Renovation Committee, said that 120 kg of gold was required to plate the vimanam before the kumbabhishekam was performed.