TIRUNELVELI: The rift between forest and revenue officials with regard to allowing devotees to Sorimuthu Ayyanar temple for attending Aadi Amavasai festival celebrations and the execution of duties at the check post, widened on Monday as the officials of both departments engaged in a wordy quarrel here.
The revenue officials wanted to allow the devotees to travel to the temple like in previous years, while the forest officials recently imposed several restrictions on the devotees. Owing to these restrictions, the devotees from Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts staged a protest in Papanasam on Friday and Saturday demanding the officials to increase the number of days they could stay at the temple.
When the matter was brought to the notice of Collector K P Karthikeyan, he issued a slew of instructions allowing the devotees to stay in the temple located in Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) for up to five days. Tirunelveli corporation commissioner Sivakrishnamurthy, who was appointed as supervising authority for the course of action, along with Cheranmahadevi sub-collector Mohammed Shabbir Alam recently inspected the temple and arranged basic amenities for the devotees.
Meanwhile, the forest officials allegedly forced the revenue officials to leave the forest check post on Monday. Irked by this, the revenue officials led by Ambasamudram Tahsildar Sumathi sought an explanation from the forest officials, which allegedly turned into a quarrel. A video of the altercation has gone viral on social media.