Drowning of youths during temple fest: Minister says festival held without informing dept

Chennai, April 6 (bpNS)

Tamil Nadu minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE), P.K. Sekar Babu said that the department was unaware of the Theertahvari festival held at Moovarasampet in Chennai during which five youths were drowned to death on Wednesday.

The minister was responding to a calling attention motion in the state legislative assembly on Thursday.

Sekar Babu said that the trustees of the Dharmalingeswar temple were organizing the Theerthvari festival for the past four years without informing the HR&CE department about it. He said that in future the temple trustees must inform the government of this so that precautionary measures could be taken.

The minister said that the tank in which the youths drowned belonged to the local panchayath and was renovated recently at a cost of  Rs 50. 5 lakh spent by the Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Industries, T.M. Anbarasan. He told the assembly that Chief Minister immediately called him and chided him for not keeping the tank well but he informed the Chief Minister that it was renovated by Thiru  T.M. Anbarasan.

He said that the temple was managed by the Sarva Mangala Seva Trust and told the assembly that they had decided to conduct a kumabishekam on September 8, 2022. P.K. Sekar Babu said that when the HR& CE department came to know of this, it immediately appointed the Executive officer of Nanganallur Anjaneya Swami temple as trustee of the temple managed by Sarva Mangala Seva trust.

He said that the trust has now filed an appeal which would be heard on April 12.