madurai the new parking lot of sri meenakshi sundareswarar temple is a hit among devotees tourists and drivers unveiled a few weeks back the facility at ellis nagar has ample parking space and provisions for drinking water and even cooking moreover visitors can board dedicated buses that will take them to the historic temple about 20000 tourists arrive at the new parking area in 200 tourist vehicles every day said p jayaraman joint commissioner of sri meenakshi amman temple the temples own new parking lot has enough space to receive 400 tourist vehicles at a time he added till a month back the place was covered with bushes the temple authorities had to overcome a legal battle before commencing work to build the parking lot the temple administrations move to provide parking facility for the devotees was challenged at the madurai bench of the madras high court the madurai corporation licensee for the parking lot had filed a case but the court passed order in our favour said jayaraman drivers bringing tourists from across the state and neighbouring states have lauded the administrations efforts so far vehicle parking in madurai was difficult as i have experienced in the last eight years the new facility at ellis nagar is awesome it has abundant space and only negligible fee is charged said m senthilkumar a van driver from chennai parking charges in the city is between rs120 to 150 and there is insufficient place said r rajeshkumar another driver who came with devotees from villupuram devotees too are all praise for the facility those who arrive here are guided by 10 staff deployed for the purpose by the temple administration and transport authorities earlier it was difficult to reach the temple we spent rs 100 for autorickshaws going to and fro now i can reach the temple by paying rs 20 for a trip on a government bus said b amsavalli a 65yearold devotee from chennaitamil nadu state transport corporation has allotted 10 special buses to pick up devotees from the parking place and drop them at the temple they can return on these buses volunteers of akhila bharatha ayyappa seva sangam are at hand to offer food and medicine to needy devotees its 112 branches in madurai have the responsibility to arrange free food at noon every day however tourists have requested the district authority to improve toilet and lighting facilities at the parking lot the joint commission has assured speedy action on this