THANJAVUR: With the footfall at the 11th century Brihadeeswara temple in Thanjavur, popularly known as Big temple, increasing multifold in recent years, city residents and tourists, pointing to the difficulty visitors face in crossing the road near the entrance of the Chola edifice, seek urgent measures to decongest the traffic on the stretch.
According to reliable sources, the daily footfall at the UNESCO World Heritage monument, which was in the hundreds before the celebration of the completion of 1,000 years of construction of the temple in 2010, swelled, particularly after the release of Ponnyin Selvan film series in 2022 and 2023. The footfall currently hovers around 10,000 during the weekdays, hitting 20,000 during the weekends and holidays, sources said.
"With every news about the historical monument, the number of visitors continues to increase," said V Jeevakumar, legal advisor of Thanjavur Makkal Nala Peravai. "As vehicles, including buses, are moving in the Big temple road, tourists find it difficult crossing the road from the parking area located across the main road," he added.
While the police regulate the traffic for the crossing visitors, the vehicles plying on either side of the road have to be stopped, adding to the traffic woes in the locality, he further said. R Ravichandran, the project director of ‘Azhagiya Thanjai’ movement, said converting the present road running near the temple entrance as the parking area and the current parking area as the road for moving traffic will solve the problem.
M Kumar, a city resident and an arts enthusiast, however, pointed out that shifting the parking lot may entail land acquisition and construction of a traffic island, which he added will take long. "To immediately ease the problem, the road in front of the temple needs to be made one-way.
The traffic coming from the railway overbridge, near the temple, needs to be diverted via the old court road. Similarly, the four wheelers and two wheelers need to be allowed into the parking lot from the northern side and be made to exit through the southern side of the area," he said.
When contacted, Mayor S Ramanathan pointed out how the Union government had sanctioned Rs 25 crore towards improving amenities for tourists at the temple. "The works under the scheme will be taken up soon. At that time, the issue of traffic flow in front of the temple will also be addressed,” he told TNIE.
We also approached state Health Minister Ma Subramanian for having the land parcel belonging to the nearby Government Raja Mirasdar Hospital allocated for the road that will run through the present parking area, he added.