Devotees have urged the people's representatives to put pressure on the Southern Railway to run special trains between Coimbatore and Palani for a week, on the occasion of 'Kanda Sashti' festival.
Coimbatore: The Palani Malai Murugan Temple, the first of the six houses of the Tamil god Murugan is renowned as a spiritual tourist destination and is visited by thousands of devotees daily, both local and foreign, especially from countries like Singapore and Malaysia.
The 'Kanda Sashti' festival which is to be held at the Palani Malai Murugan Temple on October 30, Sunday is expected to draw tens of thousands of devotees who will fast and participate. Most of these devotees get to the temple, using train services. But due to festival rush, the trains get overcrowded. Palani railway station is already earning an average of lakhs per day through tourists and traders. It is also said that an income of upto Rs.5 lakhs per day is generated during 'Kanda Sashti' festival and other religious holidays.
Palani railway station has three platforms for trains upto 24 coaches and one platform for goods traffic. Hence, running special trains through the Palani Railway Station will aid smooth flow of devotees. Meanwhile, due to lack of night staff on the Dindigul-Palani-Pollachi route, it has been difficult to run special trains on these routes at night.
Devotees said, "Currently, a total of five trains are running on the Dindigul-Palani-Pollachi route including Sentur-Palakkad Express, Chennai- Palakkad Express, Madurai-Coimbatore Express, Amrita Express, Tirunelveli-Mettupalayam weekly special train. Night staff should be appointed immediately and steps should be taken to run trains through the day. On the occasion of 'Kanda Sashti' festival, trains should be run continuously, with one train per hour. These special trains will benefit lakhs of devotees and also bring good income to the Southern Railway Department. So the people's representatives from Dindigul and Coimbatore districts should put pressure on the Southern Railway to run additional trains."