MADURAI/DINDIGUL: Tense moments prevailed at Alagar temple in the reserve forest area on Friday after forest department officials obstructed the road work carried out by the HR&CE department on Friday. The forest officials said no permission was taken for laying the road and a wordy argument ensued between them and the HR&CE officials of the temple.
Only a few weeks ago, Chief Minister MK Stalin laid the foundation for a new 4-km-long road from the Solaimalai Murugan temple entrance to the Rakkayee Amman temple at an estimated cost of Rs 9.1 crore. On Friday, when the contract workers were removing the old dilapidated road's tar portions, the forest officials came and asked them to halt the work.
The officials said no permission was taken from their department to carry out the work, and subsequently, the argument broke out. "About 3.2 km of the 4-km road stretch falls in the reserve forest area. Following a recent Supreme Court verdict, some part of the area was allocated to the temple. However, the HR&CE department still needed to get our permission under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) before commencing any work here. They had filed an application but we are yet to grant the approval," a senior forest official said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Arulmigu Kallalagar Temple M Ramasamy said, "The temple road between Solai Malai Murugan temple and Rakkayee Amman temple is nearly two decades old. The road work was begun only after holding a joint meeting. We will file a police complaint against the officials for obstructing our work."