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 spends 25 lakh to provide annadanam to more than 70,000 devotees on a daily basis.