CNN
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The custodians of an historic Hindu non secular website in Malaysia are planning to put in an escalator as a substitute for these guests both unable or unwilling to climb the 272 steps resulting in its temple and cave shrines.
The Batu Caves are considered one of Malaysia’s hottest vacationer sights. They function a non secular website for Hindu worshippers and are the point of interest of the annual Thaipusam pageant yearly.
Situated a number of miles north of the capital Kuala Lumpur, the location is regarded as round 400 million years previous and is well recognizable by its towering flight of rainbow stairs, which have made it well-liked with Instagrammers.
To succeed in the temple housed in a limestone cave on the prime, guests should at the moment climb 272 steps.
Including an escalator would make the location “extra accessible,” a spokesperson for the location’s administration committee instructed a press convention Friday.
“We hope the federal government will help us since this (escalator) will permit the disabled and aged who’re unable to climb the steps to succeed in the principle temple,” mentioned temple committee chairman R. Nadarajah.
Building of the escalator, in addition to a brand new “multipurpose corridor” will start after this 12 months’s Thaipusam pageant which falls on January 25, Nadarajah added.
The corridor is estimated to price round 35 million Malaysian ($7.5 million), Nadarajah mentioned. He didn’t say how a lot the escalator would price.
Vacationers visiting Malaysia flock to the Batu Caves to see their well-known rainbow stairs, which had been painted as a part of an effort by the temple’s organizing committee to draw extra individuals to the location.
Batu Cave officers say the technique has labored, declaring the colourful stairs have grow to be well-liked with Instagrammers.
Nevertheless, the rejuvenation has additionally courted controversy with the Malaysian heritage board, which says the steps had been painted earlier than the makeover was permitted.