A 45-day government exhibition, organised by the Department of Information and Public Relations at the St. John’s Vestry Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School grounds, got under way in the city on Saturday.
The exhibition features stalls by various government departments highlighting schemes and programmes implemented by the government.
Inaugurating the exhibition, Kadambur Raju, Minister for Information and Publicity, said since 2011, the department has been organising annual exhibitions in 10 centres in the State including Tiruchi, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Thanjavur and Salem. The number of participating government departments has been increased from 15 to 27.
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Highlighting the achievements of the State government in various spheres, Mr.Raju said Tamil Nadu was the only state in the country to create a separate department for Special Programmes Implementation.
Collector K.S.Palanisamy said the exhibition featured 28 stalls by government departments, six by quasi government agencies, two central government departments and 20 private stalls. The annual exhibitions in the city have been attracting about one lakh visitors on an average.
Vellamandi N.Natarajan, Minister for Tourism, S.Valarmathi, Minister for Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare, D.Rathinavel and P.Kumar, MPs, and officials were present. Earlier, Mr.Raju distributed welfare assistance worth Rs.76.57 lakhs to 905 beneficiaries under various schemes.
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A children’s amusement enclosure also forms part of the exhibition. Cultural programmes would be organised every day as part of the expo.
The exhibition would be open from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. everyday till October 10.