“A battery car service was launched at Sri Arunachaleswarar Temple here on Thursday, April 5th. The purpose of the electric car is to carry the old and disabled between Rajagopuram and the golden flag mast, free of cost. The electric car, which can accommodate seven, costs about Rs. 3.75 lakh and was purchased from Temple funds. If necessary, more such vehicles would be launched.
On a suggestion that a battery car service could also be introduced for Girivalam during non-Pournami days to keep the path pollution-free, he said that the idea would be considered. Official sources said that battery car services would soon be launched in four more Temples, including Tiruvarur, Tiruchendur, Palani and Tiruttani.”
I personally think running motorised vehicle inside the Temple is a poorly thought out idea. It can hardly be safe, and it certainly does not fit in with the atmosphere and ethos expected in such a grand, powerful Temple. Why be so modern – if special facilities are needed for the old and disabled, provide a free wheel chair service! Do we really need golf carts zipping around the compound of Arunachaleswarar Temple?
And don’t even get me started on the kind of funfair drivers that will get hired to drive the vehicle. And does one really believe that it is the old and disabled that will be the primary occupants of the carts? And one more thing to spoil as the vehicle path in the map above, shows it driving through all the pretty gardens inside the perimeter wall of the Temple, which will mean a nasty disturbance for the bird life and monkeys inhabiting the area -- as I have no doubt that the state-of-the art vehicle has a very old fashioned, noisy, Indian volume horn attached!
