Chennai, May 17 (PTI) The renowned Sri Parthasarathy Swamy temple in Triplicane here has commenced offering day-long Annadanam (free meal) to devotees visiting the shrine on Saturdays and important festival occasions commencing from today, the government said.
Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin launched the scheme at the temple in the presence of state Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department Minister P K Sekar Babu, Chennai Mayor R Priya, and other officials.
The Annadanam all through the day is being implemented for the benefit of devotees at 13 temples spread across the state. Eleven temples were included in the list in the last four years. In addition, Annadanam is provided once a day at 764 temples in the state. About 3.5 crore devotees benefit through this initiative every year, an official release here said.
The inauguration of the scheme at the Sri Parthasarathy Swamy temple fulfills an announcement made in the Assembly that the free meals with the south Indian delicacies of vada and payasam (kheer) would be provided on all days of Purattasi, the sixth month in Tamil calendar, Saturdays, and on other occasions such as temple car festival and Vaikunta Ekadasi. This gesture would benefit 82,000 devotees who visit the temple annually during those important occasions, the release said.