A proposal of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department to deepen a 20-foot-deep well in Sathuragiri’s Sundara Mahalingam Temple and Santhana Mahalingam Temple has ruffled environment activists.
M. S. Murugan, an activist from Elandhaikulam, a village located about eight kilometres from the temple, says that deepening of the well will create more opportunities for the HR and CE department to exploit natural resources in the area. Sundara Mahalingam Temple, spread over an area of 63 acres, lies in the core zone of the Srivilliputhur Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary. Mr. Murugan says that the HR and CE department’s objective of deepening the well will reduce the water available to animals in the sanctuary.
The HR and CE department has proposed to deepen the well from 20 to 25 feet. “We are also planning to increase the length and breadth to 16 and 17 feet from six and eight feet,” says a senior official from the department. He says that the main objective of deepening the well and reviving old borewells is to ensure water supply to 80 toilets constructed in the temple area. “Without water during summer, the toilets will have no use,” he says.
Mr. Murugan argues that the main objective is to ensure that there is a balance between the environment and devotion. Prior to the construction of these toilets, the activist says that he had approached the HR and CE department to construct bio toilets. He adds that the department refused to take cognisance of his suggestion.
“If the septic tank system is faulty, the sewage from toilets will mix with the streams that flow alongside the temple. This is a place which people consider pure. They bathe and take back the water from the streams. Contaminating it with faecal matter will have repercussions,” he says.
Wildlife Warden Nuha Mohammed Shabab says that he has constituted a one-man committee to look into the matter in detail to take into account the HR and CE department’s perspective as well. Details of the report will be available in a week.