GEORGE TOWN – Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy has taken umbrage at a consumer activist’s claim that his purported recommendation for an elevator to be built to reach the famous Hilltop Temple in the Waterfall area, here, went unheeded.
He said that the claim by Penang Consumer Protection Association president Datuk K. Koris Atan that he had made the recommendation is false.
“(It is) based on false and untrue information,” the Penang Hindu Endowment Board (PHEB) chairman said in a text reply to The Vibes.
According to Ramasamy, Koris had never spoken to him or PHEB about this matter.
“Koris never ever had any discussion with me or PHEB about easing access to the elderly,” he said.
He added there had been too many calls made to him over the reported claim.
Earlier, Koris had said that funds should have gone towards building a mini cable car or an elevator to the site of the Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Kovil, better known as the Hilltop Temple, in Waterfall.
The temple is accessible on foot with 513 steps leading towards it.
Koris said that it is of utmost importance that elderly devotees and those who are unfit have the means to reach the iconic temple, a focal pilgrimage site.
He also claimed that he had recommended to Ramasamy to construct an elevator or a mini cable car system to ferry the elderly and the disabled.
The new temple building was built at the cost of RM10 million, replacing an older one on the hill that has been there since the early 1800s.
It is a major venue for Thaipusam in Malaysia after the main celebration in Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur. – The Vibes, February 18, 2023.
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