Minister, MP attend ‘nadukal’ installation ceremony in Thailand
to issue e-passes would help conserve water.
“We are not getting regular water supply, and given the temperature rise, we may see massive water scarcity,” a resident from Naidupuram said.
An o£cial admits that the hill station may face water shortage and, hence, supply was being maintained on alternate days to avert such a situation. “Epasses would also help the municipality ration the water supply for hotels, thereby conserving water,” he said.
Activist Veerabadhran points out that e-passes are a must to check the carrying capacity of the road up the hill. They will help policy-makers plan additional infrastructure for the hill station, he added.
Drop in bookings
However, Ajayan, a resort owner, said that after the court order, bookings in many hotels dropped. Epasses should be made applicable only on weekends, he said.
Ranjit who runs a hotel on Lake Road said it was only during the tourist season that he could make money and issuing e-passes would aect his income.
Transport Minister S.S. Sivasankar and Rajya Sabha member M.M. Abdulla participated in the ‘nadukal’ installation ceremony, which was held in Thailand recently.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), conrmed their participation in the ceremony.
The ‘nadukal’ was installed in memory of several Tamils who had died while establishing the
Siam-Burma railway during the second World War. “It is a Tamil tradition to install ‘nadukal’ to remember the departed souls,” the Chief Minister said, citing a verse from the Tholkappiyam.
The Thailand Tamil Sangam and Tamils in Malaysia collaborated to install the ‘nadukal’ in Thailand.
State’s contribution
Mr. Stalin said that the Tamil Nadu government had contributed ₹10 lakh towards the installation.