The fire that broke out in Sri Bhagavathi Amman Temple in Mandaikadu on June 2 was due to human error and not a sabotage, Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments P.K. Sekar Babu said on Monday.
Mr. Sekar Babu inspected the renovation of the damaged roof of the 400-year-old temple and the ‘prasannam’ being done in the temple to ascertain remedial measures to be taken as per ‘ahama’ rules. Later, he told journalists that he had formed a committee, headed by the Kanniyakumari Collector, to probe the fire accident.
The interim report submitted by the panel after questioning eight persons revealed human error as the reason behind the fire accident and no sabotage was established.
Steps had been taken to avert such incidents by installing modern firefighting equipment in the shrine. People, who had failed to prevent the fire accident, would be taken to task after the panel submitted its final report, he added.
He said the HR and CE Department had allotted ₹85 lakh – ₹50 lakh for renovating the roof and ₹35 lakh for installing firefighting equipment and carrying out renovation work in the inner precinct.
“If more funds are needed to carry out the renovation work, we will ensure availability of funds to the satisfaction of the devotees and as per the ‘prasannam’ being conducted on Monday and Tuesday,” Mr. Babu said, adding an asbestos roof was being provided in the temple as a temporary measure.
The Minister said vacant posts of Joint Commissioners, HR and CE, would be filled up with right people to ensure the best possible maintenance of temples.
He also informed that all 30 temple elephants in Tamil Nadu would undergo proper medical examination at regular intervals and a committee, led by the Joint Commissioner, would be formed in every district to take care of the animals.
Minister for Information Technology T. Mano Thangaraj, MLAs J.G. Prince and M.R. Gandhi, Commissioner of HR&CE J. Kumaragurubaran, Collector M. Aravind and Superintendent of Police V. Badri Narayanan were present.
