Petition dismissed by Madras HC of transporting Lord Vishnu's semi-carved idol t Bengaluru

The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition challenging the transportation of a semi-carved idol of Lord Vishnu for installation at a temple in Bengaluru. A division bench of Justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad while dismissing the public interest litigation (PIL), said in its order that the authorities concerned had accorded necessary permission to transport the semi-carved idol in 2014 itself.

The Tiruvannamalai district Collector submitted that all precautionary measures had been taken and his status report mentions the steps taken by the authorities, it said. The petitioner P Rathinam of Namakkal district said a religious trust in Bengaluru had obtained permission from the Tamil Nadu government in 2014 to quarry 460 metres of charnockite stone from a hillock in Korakottai village in Tiruvannamalai district.

The purpose was to carve out a 64-foot statue of Lord Vishnu. Since such a huge rock could not be transported easily, the trust had engaged the services of a specially-designed truck.

He alleged as the roads are narrow to accommodate the huge truck with 160 wheels, many residential houses and commercial establishments en route were being demolished to pave the way for the truck. Though the trust had promised to compensate the property owners, the entire amount was not paid, the petitioner alleged.

(With inputs from agencies.)