Ban on temple festivals: folk artistes demand ₹10,000 as monthly relief

The Tamil Nadu Folk Artistes Welfare Association members have demanded the State government to give them each ₹10,000 as monthly relief in view of the ban on conducting festivals in temples due to COVID-19 pandemic here on Friday.

A large number of folk artistes from Manaparai, Karur and Dindigul districts, led by the association State joint general secretary Durai Santosh, submitted a memorandum to the District Collector.

In their submission, they said that since last year (March), when the pandemic surfaced, the lockdown had severely affected their livelihood. The relief given by the State government was paltry and could not make our both ends meet. Thankfully, a few NGOs provided essential commodities with which the families survived.

At a time, when the government had relaxed the COVID-19 guidelines for many establishments, banning festivals at temples had directly hit the livelihood of the folk artistes across the State, he claimed.

“If the folk artistes were booked to perform in a temple festival they would get a substantial amount as fees. Now that the festivals cannot be held, the income has been curtailed,” he said.

They also threatened to stage demonstrations and intensify their agitations if the government did not heed to their just demand.