The temple town of Tiruvannamalai is ready for the Maha Deepam lighting atop the 2,688 feet tall Arunachala Hills near Arunachaleswara temple on December 3, 2025. This event is part of the Karthigai Deepam festival. Last year, a landslip caused by Cyclone Fengal rains killed seven people, including children, on December 1, 2024. To avoid such tragedies, forest staff from nearby divisions like Vellore and Tirupattur will help local teams prevent pilgrims from climbing the hills during the festival. "Forest staff from neighbouring divisions like Vellore and Tirupattur have been roped to assist local forest teams to prevent people from climbing the hills during the festival. However, people who are associated with lighting the lamp atop the hills as part of Maha Deepam will be allowed," said M. Sudhakar, District Forest Officer (DFO). Only about 80 persons from the local fishermen community, who have the special duty to light the lamp, will be allowed to climb the hills. They have been issued special passes by HR&CE. These passes will be checked by teams of forest officials and police at 13 points on the hills over 11 days. Around 120 forest staff will be deployed in total. Each checking team, with 6 to 8 members, will cover about 500 meters. On December 2, the Maha Deepam team carried the cauldron (kopparai) via a safer northeast route, avoiding the usual southeast path where the landslip occurred last year. HR&CE officials shared that on the festival day, 600 kg of ghee, 10 kg of camphor, 1,500 meters of cotton cloth wick, and a 15-foot bamboo stick will be carried by the fishermen community atop the hill. K. Mari, a local resident, said, "Our family members are involved in lighting of Maha Deepam atop the hills for generations. Mostly abled men in the community are assigned for the job." For the next 11 days, the same group will keep the fire burning by carrying the same ingredients daily. They will also collect sacred ash every three days, which is later distributed to devotees after three months. The Collector and officials expect around 40 lakh devotees to visit the town on the festival day. To manage this, 24 temporary bus terminuses with over 4,500 special buses have been arranged. About 90 medical camps, including 37 on the Girivalam path, are set up to help the elderly and women. On December 2, Public Works Minister E.V. Velu, along with Tiruvannamalai Collector K. Tharpagaraj, flagged off 45 ambulances, including five bike ambulances. Additional arrangements include 136 water taps, 836 washrooms (483 on Girivalam path), 1,258 street lights (698 on Girivalam path), and deployment of 3,600 sanitary workers to clear trash. Around 150 welfare groups will serve free food on Maha Deepam day. Due to expected heavy crowds, the Collector declared a local holiday on December 3, 2025.