No Queen Street Stop.

Wednesday January 21, 2009 No Queen St stopover for Lord Muruga By K. KASTURI DEWI GEORGE TOWN: The 115-year-old silver chariot bearing Lord Muruga will not be making a stop at the Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Queen Street on Thaipusam eve on Feb 7. A source revealed that representatives from both the Penang Hindu Endowment Board and the Nattukottai Chettiar Temple trustees agreed on the matter following a meeting with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on Monday. “Both sides exchanged views and opinions before agreeing that the chariot procession would stick to its original route and not stop at the Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Queen Street,’’ the source said. The controversy arose when the board proposed that the chariot stop over at the temple on the eve of Thaipusam. Under the proposal, the chariot was to be diverted into Queen Street after leaving the Kovil Veedu in Penang Street before proceeding to King Street and Chulia Street and continuing the rest of its journey. Both parties denied at a press conference on Dec 31 that there was a rift in the organising of the chariot procession. Tanasekharan had said the procession would make a stopover following a consensus reached between board members and the Chettiar temple trustees. In a twist of events on Sunday, trustee chairman Datuk N. Ramanathan said they would only agree to the board’s proposal if the state government wanted them to do so. He said the trustees were not in favour of the proposal because it would result in the procession being delayed by two to three hours.