Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin launches full-day ‘annadanam’ scheme

CHENNAI: Chief minister M K Stalin on Saturday launched whole-day ‘annadanam’ (free food to devotees) in three more temples attached to the Hindu religious and charitable endowments (HR & CE) department in Rameswaram, Madurai and Tiruvannamalai.
He launched the scheme through video conferencing at Ramanathaswamy temple in Rameswaram, Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai and Arunachaleswarar temple in Tiruvannamalai. Food will be served from 8 am to 10 pm and it is expected to benefit about 8,000 devotees on a daily basis.
Already, free lunch is served in 754 HR&CE temples in the state. In Palani Murugan temple and Aranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam, full-day ‘annadanam’ scheme was in place before the DMK government assumed office. It extended it to the Murugan temples in Tiruchendur and Tiruttani and Mariamman temple in Samayapuram. The state government spends 25 lakh to provide ‘annadanam’ to more than 70,000 devotees on a daily basis.
The government had announced to extend full-day free food scheme to all the major temples in a phased manner. While launching the scheme on Saturday, B Chandra Mohan, secretary of tourism and HR&CE, said that after the extension of full-day ‘annadanam’ scheme to three more temples, the state government would incur an expenditure of 103 crore per year.