Renovation of  temple pond to resume after appointing conservation expert

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Renovation works of the Padmatheertham pond of Sree Padmanabhaswami temple will resume after appointing a conservation expert. The decision to appoint a conservation expert was taken at a joint meeting of the temple administration committee, erstwhile royal family, Supreme Court-appointed conservation committee for the temple and the Kerala State Nirmithi Kendra (KSNK) which executes the works.The meeting agreed in principle to appoint S Hemachandran, former director of the Archaeology Department as conservation expert. 

An architectural engineer will also be appointed for daily supervision. Temple executive officer V Ratheesan said pond works, except the renovation of the mandapams, in it will resume on Tuesday. But it is learnt the KSNK has decided to restart all pond-related works only after the conservation expert and engineer take charge. V Ratheesan, conservation committee chief M V Nair, erstwhile royal family members Aswathi Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bayi, Aditya Varma and KSNK chief engineer Jayan Raveendran attended the meeting.

Pond works were stalled on Saturday after a section of devotees, including the members of the erstwhile Travancore royal family, raised protest against the use of an excavator for shifting dismantled concrete slabs.On Monday evening, a public meeting was convened by the temple executive officer V Ratheesan to allay the apprehensions of devotees. Erstwhile royal family members and representatives of different Hindu organisations and residents’ associations attended the meeting.Ratheesan explained the decisions of the earlier meeting to the participants. 

Majority of the organisations opined that the use of excavator was essential for completing works in time.Earlier in the day, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran visited the work site. He urged all stakeholders to cooperate for the timely completion of works.