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For some weeks now, there seems to be a concerted effort to clean and maitain Sri Agastheeswarar Temple in Valasarawakkam, one of the oldest Siva temples in the city.

Now, many similar efforts have been undertaken in the past here but they fizzled out.

Some were carried out with a lot of buzz.

The temple is under the HR & CE Department and is located in about 10 sannidhis and has a tank adjoining it.

The temple needed a thorough cleaning and an effort was made by the Loka Dharma Seva Foundation Trust, a voluntary organisation some time ago. Now, more people are joining the campaign.

Even an Exnora group is lending its hand.

The effort is on to clean the leftover oil and offerings in the temple premises, clear the campus of wild shrubs, clear clogged drains and sustain the temple tank.

Also, a plan has been drawn up to maintain the temple campus and tank.

Recently, a local group of volunteers under the baner of the Seva Trust took up the cleaning of this temple on a Sunday.

“We are taking up the cleaning of local temples because we need to protect the symbols of ancient heritage of the Hindus,” said Dr. Subramanian, the managing trustee of the organisation. “The EO of the temple who declined permission for this, later voluntarily opted for it, after we had cleaned the Baleeswarar Temple a month ago”, he adds.

The group of 15 members toiled in the summer heat to do this thankless job. They were served buttermilk and had to take breaks since the heat affeceted them all.

The bushes on the pathways were removed, the debris strewn around was collected and dumped outside to be cleared later.

The drains from the shrines were full of silt and the dirt was removed to a large extent. The oily grime from the shrines was removed.

Women volunteers tucked in their sarees and set to work with brooms.

“Removing the oil grime isn’t easy,”said one of them.

The group smeared about three kilos of washing powder to remove the grime everywhere.

Said volunteer Saikumar, “If we don’t do this now to take care of our temples, the next generation will not have them at all”.

Sai Kumar, an ardent Siva bhaktha is a bank employee and has authored a few books on ancient Siva temples.

Prema Rangarajan, an employee with Geological Survey of India and a K. K. Nagar resident, said she was enthused to participate in the project after she read about it. Said an enthusiastic Rajam, a Virugambakkam resident, ” It is a noble deed and I hope to join them whenever time permits.”

Says Subramaniam, “We have to form a permanent group for each temple to take care of maintenance”.

Most others in the volunteer group - Natarajan, Ramadas, Ramachandran, Jayalakshmi and Shankar - and the temple staff have assured of their participation whenever possible.

Just now, seven shrines have been given a nice look but more has to be done.

People keen to volunteer can contact Dr. Subramanian of LDSFT at 24760556, 9444381476.