Trichy: Portion of Srirangam temple’s gopuram collapses

TRICHY: A small portion of a gopuram (tower) in Arulmigu Ranganathaswamy temple in Trichy's Srirangam collapsed in the early hours of Saturday.

No person was injured in the incident.

While the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department that manages the temple has sanctioned Rs 98 lakhs to renovate the structure, temporary restoration works were already underway in the tower.

A portion of the stone façade with minor sculptures on the second tier of the Damodara Krishnankoil gopuram, one of the towers in the eastern entrance of the temple collapsed and fell on the ground.

Since the incident happened around 2am, the public movement was not there around the tower. Usually, locals used to access the gopuram’s entrance to reach the temple and residential areas nearby.

"Earlier, we sanctioned Rs 67 lakh to strengthen and renovate the gopuram. The sum was revised to Rs 98 lakh recently. Scaffolding erection works will commence shortly. Gopuram will be renovated without altering the heritage, a tender will be published soon to launch the permanent strengthening works,” S Sivaramkumar, joint commissioner, HR&CE, Srirangam temple, told TOI.

Restoration work is expected to be completed within a few months, technical experts from the HR&CE department will oversee the process. The official added that the structure of the gopuram is stable and intact. On Saturday morning, temple workers removed the debris and barricaded the entrance of the damaged gopuram to prevent public movement around the tower. It is to be noted that the locals in July 2023 spotted and alerted the weakened portion of the Damodara Krishnankoil tower in Srirangam temple.

Subsequently, the HR&CE department assured to strengthen the tower. Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam has a total of 21 gopurams in the temple area sprawling over 156 acres.