Drowning of youths: Minister says festival held without informing dept

Chennai, April 6 Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Minister P.K. Sekar Babu on Thursday said that the department was unaware of the Theertahvari festival held at Moovarasampet in Chennai during which five youths drowned to death.

Responding to a calling attention motion in the state Legislative Assembly on Thursday, Babu said that the trustees of the Dharmalingeswar temple have been organising the Theerthvari festival for the past four years without informing the HR&CE department about it.

He said in future, the temple trustees must inform the government if they are organising temple fests, so that precautionary measures could be taken.

The minister said that the tank in which the youths drowned belonged to the local panchayath and was renovated recently at a cost of Rs 50.5 lakh spent by the Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Industries, T.M. Anbarasan.

Babu told the assembly that Chief Minister immediately called him and sought an explanantion but he told him that the tank was renovated by Anbarasan.

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