TN govt told to regulate footfall in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve during temple festival
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the government to strictly regulate the movement of devotees to Adhi Karuvannarayar temple located in the core area of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) during the full moon festival in February.
The first bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy issued the direction on a public interest litigation petition filed by Dr R Karpagam of Coimbatore seeking to regulate the movement of people during the festival.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate SP Chokkalingam submitted that unbridled inflow of people to the temple for the Masi festival would put wild animals in trouble. State government pleader (SGP) P Muthukumar informed the court that the authorities have proposed to take several regulatory measures including restricting the number of vehicles entering the temple area to 100 per day, screening of visitors, and ensuring no use of crackers.