Madurai, Feb 3: A massive fire broke out at the Eastern Tower side of the World-renowned Sri Meenakshi-Sundareswarar Temple complex here late on Friday night destroying more than 40 shops.
Police said the fire was noticed at 1045 PM in one of the shops inside the one thousand pillar mandapam (hall), located near the eastern tower. The flames spread to nearby shops within few seconds, gutting the entire row of nearly 40 shops.
Though there is no loss of life or injury in the inferno, a number of pigeons reside in the eastern tower were perished.
More than 100 personnel from Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services department and five fire tenders rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control at 1230 AM.
District Collector K.Veer Raghava Rao, who rushed to the temple, said due to the swift operation, the fire was contained before it spread to the main temple area. The district administration had ordered a detail probe into the fire incident. The temple has been reopened for public darshan as usual this morning.
The cause of the fire is being ascertained, but however it could be due to a short circuit in one of the shops.
As the news of the fire spread, hundreds of devotees rushed to the temple, even as the fire extinguishing operation was underway and demanded the collector to remove shops that were selling bangles, statues, picture of deities and pooja articles from the temple complex.
Sources in the temple said a small portion of the centuries-old thousand pillar mandapam might have been weakened due to the heat. The exact condition of the mandapam post-fire would be known after a detailed study by experts. UNI
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