Ahead of the 10-day Panguni festival (which kicks off on April 2), officials of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department and the Mylapore police met with devotees who would offer annadanam (a free offering of food) during the annual festival. It was decided that the number of groups offering annadanam at the Mada Streets would be restricted.
Many of these groups attach great significance to this annual practice, and, according to V. Balakrishnan, deputy commissioner of police (law and order), Mylapore, it took two rounds of discussion for them to yield to the new plan.
“There are 30 groups serving annadanam to devotees during the festival. Invariably, after food is distributed, the place gets messy,” said Balakrishnan.
Following the deliberations, a group that has been serving annadanam at the annual festival over the last 15 years, near the Indian Bank office, and another group serving it at a “car stand” would now be carrying out this charity at the Mada Streets. All the other groups would be moving to the lanes off the Mada Streets or at designated points set up by the police.
“We are not forcing them to discontinue the practice; we have only asked them to shift to new locations so that crowd movement is not hampered,” said Balakrishnan.
Feedback sought
Earlier, the DC had used his Facebook page to invite feedback from residents on the measures taken for the Panguni festival. Residents pointed out that in previous years, traffic diversion implemented for the Panguni festival was not strictly followed. To which, the police replied that sometimes they kept traffic arrangements flexible depending on the turnout.
Hawkers evicted
With the help of the police, the Greater Chennai Corporation has been evicting hawkers from the Mada Streets; and this drive will continue till the festival draws to a close. This exercise is necessary to conduct the car procession, which will draw thousands of devotees. Over 1.5 lakh people visit the festival on the arupathumoovar day. “We have also asked Corporation to install 10 mobile toilets near the MRTS station and Chitrakulam,” said Kaveri, assistant commissioner, Kapali Temple.
