KUALA LUMPUR, January 19 — Federal Territories minister Hannah Yeoh said that new land for the relocation of the Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman Temple has already been gazetted.  

Talking to local media in KL today, Yeoh said that the new land which is just around 100 metres away from its original location has been gazetted on January 14 this year. 

“The building plans have been approved by the city council (DBKL) in December and the new temple grounds have been gazetted as a Non-Muslim place of worship site. 

“The new site is around 100 metres from the original location, which is very nearby,” Yeoh said.

She also said that an initial discussion took place earlier where they have visited the site, and a new plot of land has been prepared. 

Their current focus now is coordinating the relocation process and timing which is expected to begin after the Thaipusam celebrations. 

“I really want to thank the former FT minister and the former Mayor, Datuk Seri Dr Zaliha Mustafa and Datuk Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif, because they coordinated the preparation of the new site perfectly. 

“And I think this is the first time where the government took the effort to prepare a new site (for relocation). 

“And we hope to get cooperation from both the temple and developers and they also need to be reasonable—we want to settle this harmouniously,” Yeoh said.

The relocation of the 130-year-old temple has been under scrutiny since last year after a private company’s proposal to build a mosque on its land along Jalan Masjid India.

However DBKL last year has identified a new site for the temple and would not carry out any demolition activities until the relocation process is completed.