Plea to issue guidelines to regulate darshan at Tiruchendur temple

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department to file a counter affidavit to a public interest litigation petition that sought a direction to authorities to issue appropriate guidelines to regulate darshan and other services at Sri Subramaniya Swamy Temple in Tiruchendur in Thoothukudi district.

A Division Bench of Justices Anita Sumanth and C. Kumarappan was hearing a petition filed by B. Rajesh of Chennai. The petitioner complained that there were no proper arrangements and basic amenities such as drinking water, proper seating arrangements and medical assistance at the temple. The devotees were subjected to untold hardship, he said.

In order to alleviate the hardships of the devotees he had submitted a detailed representation to the authorities and suggested measures to streamline darshan management at the temple, he said.

The measures suggested by the petitioner included implementation of a colour-coded token system. Time slot-based colour-coded tokens could be issued to regulate entry every hour, he said, adding that online darshan booking could be launched with a reasonable fee for slot-based darshan.

He suggested separate arrangements and exclusive darshan pathways for senior citizens, differently abled persons and people with infants and young children.

There was a need to augment crowd management and staff deployment. The number of security personnel and staff should be increased, especially on festival days. Basic amenities such as adequate drinking water, rest shelters, toilets, and medical aid units for waiting devotees should be provided, he suggested.

The authorities had not implemented the remedial measures, he said, adding that due to the inaction of the authorities concerned the devotees were put to hardship. The court posted the matter for hearing to December 9.