Among the suggestions made by Chief Minister MK Stalin during a departmental review last month, was the development of a few temples in the state on par with the Tirupati Balaji Temple. ‘To begin with, Tiruchendur Murugan Temple, the second of Lord Muruga’s six abodes which receive lakhs of pilgrims, would be taken up. We have planned to improve basic amenities like transport, drinking water, parking and sanitation facilities apart from developing queue line complexes there,’.
At any given time, the queue line complexes would be able to accommodate 7,000 to 10,000 people. According to Sekar Babu, the temple has been designed to be able to handle one lakh pilgrims per day. ‘We recently discussed the ideas with the MLA and MP of the constituency,’ says the department, which has partnered with HCL for the Tiruchendur Temple development plan. The final decision would be made next month and brought to the Chief Minister’s attention.
‘Finally, a master plan would be created and actions would be taken,’ the Minister said, adding that the temple’s consecration would be included in the master plan. The Minister said the government was already studying the revenue flow of resourceful temples to consider distributing signature prasadam (like Laddu in Tirumala) to pilgrims.
A committee has also been formed, according to the Minister, to revive the idea of converting gold received in temple Hundis into gold bars and depositing them in state-run nationalized banks for interest.
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