Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister (HR&CE) PK Sekharbabu on Tuesday inaugurated the renovated Golden Temple car at the Subramanianaswamy Temple in Tiruttani.
The work has been completed after a gap of eight years as the car was taken apart for repairs and was not done.
It has been renovated at a cost of ₹11.58 lakh and the works done include repair of wooden parts, re-laying of gold sheets, lighting and shutters for the temple car. Temple cars of gold and silver are usually pulled inside the temple premises by the devotees as part of their prayers.
The minister also performed a puja to initiate repair work for the silver car costing ₹18.3 lakh. “We are hopeful that the temple car will be ready in three months. Under the instructions of Chief Minister MK Stalin, we had announced that the Golden Car, which was commissioned in 1972, would be put back into use. The silver car is more than 60 years old,” Mr Shekharbabu said, adding that the department had sought reports of all temple cars in the state.
Among other works being carried out in the temple, he said four small halls and one big hall would also be constructed for weddings at a combined cost of Rs 5 crore.
A feasibility study for a rope car over the temple has recently been submitted. Tenders have been called for the construction of 65 stairs leading to Rajagopuram and work is about to start next month at an estimated cost of Rs 85 lakh, he said.