Car festival of Sri Thyagrajaswamy Temple in Tiruvarur was held on Friday. Thousands of people pulled the car which is one of the biggest in Tamil Nadu. The tastefully decorated giant size car weighing 300 tonnes in total decoration with a height of 90 ft, moved majestically on the main streets. People shouted "Thyagesa", "Aroora" as they pulled the car. Bulldozers pushed the car from behind. K. R. Periya Karuppan, HR and CE Minister, U. Mathivaanan, Dairy Development Minister, P. R. Sampath, HR and CE commissioner, V. K. Subburaj, Secretary, Health, Government of Tamil Nadu, A. K. S. Vijayan, Nagapattinam MP, M. Thangavel, District Revenue Officer, Praveen Kumar Abhinabu, Superintendent of police, K. Thennan, Tiruvarur Municipal Chairman, Durga Stalin, wife of Deputy Chief Minister M. K. Stalin participated in the festival and pulled the car.
Later speaking to presspersons, the HR and CE minister said that the car will be renovated at a cost of Rs. two crores after the festival. He said that in the last four years Kumbgabishekam has been performed to 4500 temples in the state at a cost of Rs. 430 crores. A total of 1300 temple tanks have been renovated in the past four years. Steps had been taken to renovate another 900 tanks. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi took efforts to revive the car festival after a gap of 22 long years in 1970 and it has been going on since then, the Minister said.
Temple town of Tiruvarur wore a festive look on Friday. Elaborate bandobust arrangements have been made by the police. Additional buses were operated by the Transport Corporation.