CHENNAI: Strongly denying a media report that temple consecrations in the State were being deliberately delayed, State Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister Kamaraj on Sunday announced that the government would initiate defamation proceedings against the daily for its ‘mischievous’ and ‘motivated’ report.
Giving details of the consecrations that had taken place this year, the Minister said in January this year, consecrations had taken place at 126 temples, while in February it was 220 and in March, 116 consecrations had been performed. These included consecration at Thirumazhapadi Vaithanathaswamy temple on February 8, Arthanareeswarar temple at Tiruchengode on March 25 and Thiagarajaswamy temple at Tiruvottiyur on February 22.
The consecration dates for the temples would be based on the traditional temple festivals, he said and added that they could not be compared to other construction works. The renovation works for temples should be done without damaging their antiquity and according to the agama rules. The renovation works were done with the involvement of experts in agama shastra, archaeology and temple sculpture.
The renovation works at the Ramanathaswamy Temple at Rameswaram would be completed in three months and similar works at the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple would be completed soon. The renovation works at the Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleswarar Temple would be finished in eight months and the consecration works of Swamy Malai Temple would be traditionally performed in the Tamil month of Aippasi (October-November), the Minister said. The consecration date for the Sri Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane would be fixed depending on the completion of renovation works.
Besides, consecration would be performed at the Salem Hasthampatti Mariamman Temple, Kilvelur Atchayalinga Swamy Temple, Peralaiyur Varadharajaswamy Temple and Pudukottai Santhanathasamy Temple on May 1. The consecration dates for Srivilliputhur Vadapathirasamy, Periya Aavudaiyar and Brahadheeswarar temples had been fixed on May 22, as the renovation works were nearing completion, the Minister added.
The consecration for the Konerirajapuram Uma Maheswari Temple would be performed on May 29, he said.
The AIADMK government had implemented annadhanam in 518 temples and retrieved temple property worth Rs 2,337 crore, besides renovating 137 temple cars at a cost of Rs 12.29 crore and renovating 606 temple ponds at an estimate of Rs 2.59 crore, the Minister said.