CHENNAI : The underbelly of the bridge that connects GST road in Chromepet and the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam radial road is set to host the firewalking ritual for the local temple this Sunday. The stage is set and a concrete platform is built for the occasion — all on the land belonging to the State highways.
When Express visited the spot, a concrete platform was painted and ready, where devotees would walk on burning embers as part of the ritual. While the custom was usual in the Tamil month of Aadi, the choice of location has left residents confused.
The temple which is set to organise the festival, and is located on the service road under the bridge, could itself be termed an encroachment, said locals.A part of the grill that separates the road from the space under the bridge was found removed. The move, said local residents, was to allow a compact excavator to enter the space and level the ground ahead of the event.
When contacted, a Highways official said that it was the duty of those conducting the religious event to restore the space as it was, immediately after the event.“These events are usually conducted with semi-permanent structures but if we do find that permanent structures are erected, we’ll make sure that the authorities remove it,” the official said.
The recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that was tabled in the assembly in July showed that in the test-checked zones of the Greater Chennai Corporation, the number of religious encroachments was second only to commercial establishments. In the test-checked zones — Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Anna Nagar and Teynampet — there were 15 religious structures encroaching on road margins while there were 38 commercial structures.