Clean Unesco site makes locals happy

Mahabalipuram: The streets are squeaky clean, police personnel are deployed in formidable strength, shops are being given a final coat of fresh paint as locals watch in fascination. The sleepy tourist haven of Mahabalipuram near Chennai is gearing up to receive Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday to showcase its rich Pallavaera architecture and exquisite sculptures.  “Business is down but we do not mind. We just love the way our town has been spruced up and made so clean in a matter of 20 days,” a sculpture-shop owner who identified himself as Ganapathy told this newspaper.

The tourist paradise which is a World Heritage site due to its ancient Shore Temple and other magnificent sculptures carved and built in the 7th and 8th centuries by the great Pallava Kings is enjoying the limelight, for sure.

“We just wish this place was as clean the whole year round. Illegal encroachments have been cleared. The area has been cleaned up. It was so dirty just a month ago,” laughed a shop-keeper who preferred not to be identified.