THE Penang Hindu Endowments Board (PHEB) has come forward to assist the Sri Singamuga Kaliamman Temple in organising its annual ‘Theppa Thiruvilla’ festival this year.
The festival will take place on Feb 24 (Saturday) at the Sri Singamuga Kaliamman Temple, Teluk Bahang, from 6 pm onwards.
PHEB commissioner K. Kumaran announced that this year, a free shuttle service by RapidPenang would be available for devotees to reach the temple.
Kumaran said that the service aims to mitigate traffic congestion issues during the festival, relieving devotees of concerns related to parking availability.
“The PHEB is rendering our support to the temple by contributing RM4,823 for the shuttle service which will help to enhance the convenience of the devotees.
“There will be a total of five buses operating at an interval of 30-minutes.
“The service is available from 4pm to 1am with the pick-up point at Tanjung Bungah market, transporting attendees to the Sri Singamuga Kaliamman Temple in Teluk Bahang,” he said during a press conference yesterday (Feb 21) at the PHEB office in Jalan Macalister.
At the press conference, Kumaran who is also the Bagan Dalam assemblyman, presented an RM4,823 cheque to Sri Singamuga Kaliamman Temple chairman A. Kanapathy.
Meanwhile, Kanapathy urged the devotees to utilise the shuttle service to avoid traffic congestion.
“This year, it will be the 227th year celebrating the ‘Theppa Thiruvilla’ festival and we hope that the devotees will make use of the free transportation that will be provided on the day of the event.
“We would like to thank the PHEB for their support for the festival,” he said.
Also present were PHEB deputy chairman senator Dr R.A. Lingeshwaran and Sri Singamuga Kaliamman Temple adviser M. Letchumanan.
Story & Pix by Tanushalini Moroter