Six out of several idols installed at the Mahakal Lok corridor at the famous Mahakaleshwar temple in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain collapsed and got damaged due to gusty winds on Sunday evening, an official said.
The development comes months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of the Mahakal Lok corridor project in October last year.
The total cost of the Mahakal Lok project is Rs 856 crore with the first phase costing Rs 351 crore.
"There are a total of 160 idols installed at the Mahakal Lok corridor, out of them six fell down as strong winds swept through the area," Ujjain Collector Kumar Purshottam said.
These damaged idols were not inside the temple, but in the Mahakal Lok corridor, he said, adding that they will be restored.
The corridor, said to be one of the longest in the country, traverses the old Rudrasagar Lake which has been revived as part of the redevelopment project around the Mahakaleshwar temple, one of the 12 'jyotirlingas' in the country.
Talking about the local weather conditions, India Meteorological Department's Bhopal centre Duty Officer J P Vishwakarma told PTI that the forecast for Sunday said gusty winds would blow at the speed of 40 to 50 kilometres per hour (KMPH) at isolated places in Ujjain during the day. Talking over the phone, he also said, "We don't have an Automatic Weather Station in Ujjain to measure the speed of the wind in Ujjain. We are going to demand for it."
(Published 28 May 2023, 16:04 IST)
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