Bathing pool for Madurai temple elephant opened

MADURAI: A newly constructed bathing pool for the elephant ‘Parvathi’ on the premises of Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai, was inaugurated by PTR Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Minister for Finance and Human Resources Management on Sunday.

The elephant was happy bathing in the pool of water and the Minister witnessed the elephant caught in a moment of joy. The bathing pool was built at a cost of Rs 23.5 lakh. The Minister said the bathing pool was built to rejuvenate and refresh Parvathi.

Four years ago, the elephant suffered eye problems, and ‘when I was in the opposition party, embarked on a series of efforts to treat eye infections. Now in the present regime after taking due permission from Chief Minister MK Stalin and the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, the best team of veterinary doctors from Thailand were flown to treat the elephant in Madurai’, he said. Further, the Minister added that appropriate treatment would be continued to ensure clear vision.

Mayor of Corporation, Madurai, Indrani Ponvasanth, Temple Joint Commissioner K Chelladurai, Deputy Commissioner A Arunachalam and others accompanied, sources said.