The Kerala State Tamil Protection Council, in a representation to District Collector K.V. Mohan Kumar, has requested him to declare local holiday in Palakkad district on the Makarapongal (Thaipongal) day on January 14, 2011, which is the Tamil New Year day.
The memorandum said the Kerala government had sanctioned restricted holiday on this day for government employees, students, teachers etc. But this would help only a very small section of the Tamil linguistic minority in the district. There are around 7.5 lakh Tamils in the district.
So, the government should declare a local holiday on Pongal as Tamil Nadu government had given local holiday on Onam in Coimbatore, Nilgiri, Tiruppur, Chennai and Kanyakumari districts with a large Malayalee population, said M. Pechimuthu, general secretary of the council.
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