TIRUVANNAMALAI: The Tiruvannamalai district administration has issued a notification on Saturday banning the devotees from climbing the Arunachaleswarar temple for the Karthigai Deepam Festival, in the backdrop of heavy rainfall alert issued for the district.
A release said that an orange alert has been issued for district and that as per the report from the Geological Survey of India, the hill climbing path is still unstable, with several loose rocks present at central points where landslides had previously occurred.
“Based on the cyclone alert and the expert committee report, climbing the hill by devotees is temporarily prohibited this year as well, for their safety,” the statement said. It further urged devotees to fully cooperate with the safety measures and refrain from climbing the hill.
The police, forest and revenue department officials have been instructed to monitor the climbing path. The festival commenced on November 24 this year and the main event of the festival, the Bharani Deepam will be lit in the early morning of December 3 and the Maha Deepam will be lit on the Arunachaleswarar hill on the same evening.
In 2024, due to heavy rainfall caused by Cyclone Miachung, landslides occurred on the hill, killing seven people. Following this, considering the unsafe conditions for climbing the hill, devotees were barred from climbing the hill.