Devotees want Subang Heights Hindu temple to remain

Devotees of Sri Veera Sangili Karuppan prefer their temple to remain at its current location of Persiaran Teknologi, Subang Heights, despite being offered a new site to shift.

They expressed their views after being shown the proposed alternative location by Berjaya Land Berhad project manager Noor Hisham Mohd (right, white shirt) today. The new location is near a retention pond opposite of the current site.

Devotee S. Vela praised Berjaya’s initiative to offer a new site, but said a shift would be troublesome.

“We would like the temple to be at the old site. Some minor adjustments and legal applications can be made so that it meets local authorities’ requirements,” he said (right, blue shirt).

The temple structure was declared illegal last year when Petaling District Land office issued the temple committee an eviction order for encroaching on government land.

The Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ), on the other hand, had sealed off the temple in January as it did not have any certificate of fitness (CF), nor did the temple committee produce a land title.

Following this, Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo-Burne intervened to seek deferment of the temple demolition and negotiated with Berjaya, which has the rights to the land, to propose a new site for the temple.

Temple advisor S.Suthantiram asked Berjaya to bear the construction costs should the temple be relocated.

“Relocation is our second option if the old site cannot be retained. But we hope Berjaya will then help us to pay all the building costs,” he said.

He said the temple did not get any land title because the committee chairman was not aware of the legal procedures when Berjaya offered them the land to build the temple in 2002.

“When TNB built an electricity pylon behind the temple in 2004, it claimed we had encroached their land,” he said.

Noor Hisham explained that part of the current temple structrure occupies 10 feet of the TNB transmission reserve land while the other part sits on unencumbered open space.

“I will meet with MPSJ officers in this week to see how we can retain the temple at its existing place. But our main concern is its close proximity to the pylon,” he said.

Meanwhile, Loh hoped the temple could be given a bigger land at the new site.

He said the temple is in no rush to move if Berjaya commits to assist them in the problem.

The Sri Veera Sangili Karuppan temple was established in 1992. In 2002, it was asked to move to the current site where the Subang Heights development is proposed.