The Mylapore Club has closed the bar on its premises, which was used by members, following a direction from the Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore on whose land the club is situated.
Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister P. K. Sekar Babu said the decision was taken as even TASMAC shops were not allowed on lands belonging to temples and liquor vending outlets should not be located within 100 metres from temples. “We have nothing against the functioning of the club. It has been encouraging sporting activities,” he said.
Club president Pyramid Natarajan said that they had closed the bar as soon as they received the notice. “We have over 1300 members of whom only around 200 use the services of the bar. We have told members that we will soon have an annexe where the bar would come up,” he said.
The club is around 120 years old and is known to encourage sports and fitness activities. “We have reputed coaches training the children of our members and also non-members. Every year the TS Santhanam Tennis Tournamnet for veterans, famous nationally, is held,” he added.
Temple property rents to be rationalised
Earlier in the day, the Minister said that steps would be taken to rationalise rental rates for properties belonging to temples. “There have been complaints that the last hike was too steep and that those who had taken rents were unable to pay them,” he said.
Executive officers of temples had recently highlighted the issue in a petition to the State government. They had called for a reduction in rates so that temples would start getting income again. “In many places, those who ran shops just locked their establishments and left without informing us,” said a source.
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