Madras High Court’s amici curiae visit site for 184-foot-tall Lord Murugan statue

COIMBATORE: A Madras High Court-appointed amici curiae on Tuesday inspected the site, where a 184-feet-tall statue of Lord Murugan is to be erected at the foothills of Marudhamalai Temple in Coimbatore.

Based on the Madras High Court direction, amici curiae T Mohan and M Santhanaraman in the presence of Special Government Pleader (Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments department) NRR Arun Natarajan, visited the spot, where Marudhamalai Subramaniaswamy Temple administration has decided to install the statue.

The proposed project was challenged by Chennai-based animal welfare activist Muraleedharan, who raised concerns about its impact on the environment, as the statue was located just 137 metres away from the reserve forest area.

The HR&CE department, however, informed the court that the statue would not affect elephant movement as it is installed on only 23 cents of land within 4.96 acres of the temple area. The remaining land would be left untouched with space to accommodate up to 15,000 devotees.

Additionally, the temple administration has planned to lease 7.98 acres of government poramboke land near Bharathiar University, about 600 metres from the statue site, to develop parking and bus stand facilities.