A Pillaiyar (Vinayaka) Temple located in Gandhi Road in Kallakurichi was demolished by authorities with heavy police presence despite opposition from the local community.
A few months ago the Madras High Court had ordered the removal of 36 encroachments including several buildings and temples located along the canal.
The Vinayak Temple, located in the Kallakurichi Municipality area, had encroached upon the irrigation channel, leading to a demolition notice being issued for both the Vinayagar Temple and the Sri Dharmasaastha Temple. According to Dinamalar, the Vinayagar Temple comes under the ambit of Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department. Officials arrived on-site to carry out the demolition, encountering resistance from local devotees.
The temple, was allegedly constructed on a water pathway, was demolished by officials from the Water Resources Department, Public Works Department, and Revenue Department.
Residents and worshippers in the area staged protests and engaged in heated arguments with the authorities, expressing their discontent with the decision to demolish the temple
The work of demolishing the temples started at 9:00 am yesterday. The ADMK, city secretary Babu and the temple management asked for time to remove the idols of Swami and also to negotiate with the District Collector. They said they will not go out till then and sat inside the temple. After the officials refused to give time, the police forcefully evicted the people sitting inside the temple.
Authorities removed 9 Swami idols (stone-6, metal-3) from the Shakti Vinayagar temple. The officials of the charity department checked the height, width and weight of the idols and loaded them in a mini tempo and took them to the old Mariamman temple near the bus stand. The equipments including silver armors, bells, etc. were handed over to the temple management.
Similarly, the idols of Swamy in the Dharmashastha temple were removed and taken away by the temple authorities. According to Dinamalar, RTO Lourdesamy, Tahsildar Prabhakaran, Assistant Commissioner of HR&CE Department (in-charge) Nagaraj, Assistant Executive Engineer of Water Resources Department Mohan, Municipal Commissioner Maheshwari, Assistant Engineers of Water Resources Department Vijayakumar, Prasad, Madhavan and others were present. The police under the leadership of DSP, Devaraj were engaged in security.
The Hindu Munnani, BJP, and the general public staged a demonstration following which the police pacified them and made them disperse.
கள்ளக்குறிச்சியில் காந்தி சாலையில் நீர்வழி தடத்தை ஆக்கிரமித்துக் கட்டப்பட்டிருந்த பிள்ளையார் கோவில் பலத்த போலீஸ் பாதுகாப்புடன் இடித்து அகற்றும் பணி தீவிரம்#KallaKurichi | #Temple | #Demolish | #PolimerNews pic.twitter.com/kNk1bw4pUi
— Polimer News (@polimernews) June 1, 2024
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