Samayapuram temple will soon have better amenities

The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR &CE) department has taken up work on providing a slew of amenities at Sri Mariamman Temple in Samayapuram. A pilgrims’ rest house, a two-storeyed building for tonsuring, a sprawling Mariamman mandapam to accommodate devotees, and a toilet block for men and women have come up in the temple’s vicinity.

The funds of the temple, whose annual income is Rs. 50 crore, have been utilised to create the new facilities for the devotees who come in large numbers every day.

Constructed on temple land, the pilgrims’ rest house has 22 rooms, three suites, and a dormitory to accommodate nearly 100 people. The rest house is ready for inauguration.

The temple authorities have planned to establish a restaurant on the premises of the rest house in which landscaping had been done.

The sprawling tonsure mandapam had been built in such a way to enable 300 persons tonsure their heads at a time. A separate provision has been made for the differently–abled on the ground floor of the tonsure mandapam.

The sprawling Mariamman mandapam can accommodate nearly 2,000 people. The toilet block has 96 bathrooms and toilets for men and women. All the amenities are expected to be ready by October.

The three buildings were being constructed on the 22 acres of land adjoining the temple and there will be parking space for vehicles. These facilities were being created at a cost of Rs. 13.22 crore. The land has been donated by a devotee. The temple’s Joint Commissioner / Executive Officer, G. Thennarasu, told presspersons at the temple on Friday that plans were afoot to build a boundary wall around the 22 acres where the new buildings had come up.

Two reinforced concrete roads were proposed to be laid to connect the new buildings with the temple. The temple authorities planned to provide better lighting at the new places.

The provision of roads, comprehensive lighting and boundary wall would cost Rs. 3.1 crore, Mr. Thennarasu said.

Separate proposals had been forwarded in this regard to the department. The State Highways Department would be entrusted with the task of laying the roads.

Source