In its recent operation, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department of recovered 26 panchaloha idols of various gods from a 300-year-old temple in the Cuddalore district of Tamilnadu State.

The operation, which was undertaken despite the locale’s resistance, was part of government’s plan to move ages-old idols, lying in unsafe conditions, to bigger temples in order to protect them from idol smugglers.

The centuries-old Kasi Vishwanathar-Sivagamasundari Ambal Temple in Cuddalore Old Town had 26 panchaloha idols and the latest move by the concerned government department is coming after many such failed attempts in the past due to local issues.

Earlier this month, the Cuddalore locals had opposed the official team led by the HR&CE Assistant Commissioner Renugadevi from opening the temple room.

In response, the officials broke the lock in the presence of Village Administrator Officer of Cuddalore and recovered all the 26 idols after performing required rituals as per the tradition.

“There are around 3,000 idols in the temples in Cuddalore district. Among them, we have identified some of them to be in unsafe conditions and hence have been moving them to the idol protection centre at Padaleeshwarar temple in Cuddalore. We are doing this with police protection,” says Renugadevi.

According to her, the department has so far recovered 182 idols from 50 temples.

As part of security measures, the department has also installed monitoring cameras and alarms in around 105 temples in the district and will deploy the same in another 70 temples.