Kin of freedom fighters were honoured and felicitation certificates were presented to 120 government officials on the occasion. 

Earlier, he hoisted the national flag and accepted the guard of honour at the Armed reserve ground. Around 700 school students presented various cultural programmes as part of the celebrations.

Later, Kandasamy participated in the gram sabha meeting at Vedanatham village in Kil Pennathur panchayat union, where the village accounts were audited and issues such as plastic ban were discussed.

The Collector, along with Superintendent of Police M R Sibi Chakravarthy, later participated in a feast organised at the Arunachaleswarar temple.

In Vellore, Collector SA Raman garlanded the Gandhi statue at the Vellore Fort entrance and hoisted the national flag inside the fort premises. He reviewed the Guard of Honour at the Nethaji Stadium and also inspected a parade by the police personnel.

Welfare measures worth Rs 1.47 crore were handed over to 48 beneficiaries and family members of 80 freedom fighters from the district were honoured on the occasion. 

Before going to a gram sabha meeting at Thurai Perumpakkam village in Kaveripakkam panchayat union, Raman also hoisted the Tricolor at the blind school run by the Red Cross Society and at the Officers’ Quarters at Krishna Nagar.

 

At the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Chancellor G Viswanathan hoisted the national flag and called on the central government to institute a national scholarship to improve the gross enrolment ratio. Stating that literacy had risen to 74 per cent from 17 per cent since independence, he said people should be proud that India’s GDP ($2.59 trillion) now ranks sixth globally and has overtaken France ($2.58 trillion). 

Thereafter, he handed over bicycles to 10 deserving students and flagged off a rally of models of race cars, rockets and planes designed by the VIT students.