THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s not just Lord Padmanabha who is luxuriating in high-profile security these days. Security cover has been expanded at the nearby Pazhavangadi Ganapathi Kovil too as the ‘Army temple’ now has a new gold idol.
Four additional ex-service personnel have been deployed at the small, but much-frequented, temple at Fort. ‘’We already had security personnel here. But now that the gold idol has been installed, we have added more men for round-the-clock security,’’ sources said.
'Security has been beefed up. We have surveillance cameras and sensors inside the temple. The Army also will conduct surveillance as and when required,’’ Colonel Sasikumar of the Madras Regiment, who is in charge of the Thiruvathira Committee, said.
The three-century-old temple is managed by the Thiruvathira Committee of the Army’s Madras Regiment. The ‘Pratishta’ of the 6.5-kg gold and 15-kg silver idol was performed last week and the festivities will come to a close with the ‘Kalasabhishekam’ from 8 am to 1 pm on Tuesday, Army officials said.
The Pazhavangadi Ganapathi Temple was used by the ‘Nair Pattalam’ of the Travancore Army. After Independence, the state forces were merged with the Madras Regiment and they exist today as the 9th and 16th battalions of the Regiment. The Thiruvathira Committee has a number of institutions under it, including the Pazhavangadi Temple and the Hanuman Temple at Pangode, where the military station is also situated.