Compiled by C.ARUNO, OON JUN-YANG and R. ARAVINTHAN
THE Selangor state government handed out RM579,000 to 54 temples in a special allocation during the Thaipusam celebrations, Makkal Osai reported.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, who attended the festival celebration at Batu Caves, gave out the funds to temple representatives.
“The grand Thaipusam celebrations at Batu Caves and elsewhere represent the diversity and unity of the people of Selangor and Malaysia,” Amirudin said during his speech.
State exco member V. Papparaidu, who also spoke at the event, said the state government will continue to undertake programmes for the betterment of the Indian and Hindu communities, including resolving temple land issues.
Papparaidu said he had successfully helped 58 Hindu temples resolve their land issues in the three years since he took office.
He said during his brother V. Ganabatirau’s tenure as an exco member, around 200 temples had their land matters resolved.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
