meetings on Mahamaham tank: Notice to Thanjavur Collector, SP

:Madras High Court today ordered notice to Thanjavur Collector and Superintendent of Police on a PIL by a VHP activist, seeking a direction not to permit public or political meetings on the western bund of a tank in Kumbakonam temple till February 2016 when 'Mahamaham' (Kumbh Mela of South) will be celebrated.
Petitioner R Kannan submitted that two important rituals are performed by devotees who visit the tank, scheduled in February. The first was taking a holy dip in the tank and the other was going around the temple tank after visiting 12 Shiva temples situated in and around the tank.

About 10 lakh devotees are expected for the Mahamaham festival. It was important to keep surroundings of the temple tank clean, he said.
However, political parties who conduct meetings cause traffic jam and devotees were not able to go around the temple tank. Thus they are not able to follow rituals which should be strictly followed during Mahamaham. Besides those who gather for political meetings littered the area and even polluted the holy tank.
With the election scheduled next year, political parties would start holding meetings in the western bund of the tank and this would spoil and ruin its holy atmosphere and hence the officials should not permit any meeting on the western side of the tank, he submitted.