Ensure basic amenities, step up safety precautions for Chithirai festival, say Minister

Ensuring basic amenities to the public, safety precautions, regulation of traffic and parking, installation of adequate number of CCTV cameras and surveillance were some of the key issues discussed at the review meeting held at the Madurai Collectorate for the Chithirai festival, on Monday.

Ensuring basic amenities to the public, safety precautions, regulation of traffic and parking, installation of adequate number of CCTV cameras and surveillance were some of the key issues discussed at the review meeting held at the Madurai Collectorate for the Chithirai festival, on Monday.

Minister for Commercial Taxes and Registration P. Moorthy and Minister for Finance and Human Resources Management P.T.R. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan presided over the meeting, in which Collector S. Aneesh Sekhar and officials from various government departments participated.

Mr. Thiaga Rajan told the officials that a large number of people and devotees from across the country and abroad were expected to attend the Chithirai festival in Madurai. Necessary steps should be taken to ensure the smooth conduct of the festival, he said.

Pointing to the tragic stampede incident last year in which two devotees were killed, he said that safety precautions should be improved and necessary steps should be taken to ensure that such incidents do not happen. Police should take steps towards regulation of traffic and parking of vehicles. Adequate number of police personnel should be deployed at the venues and adequate CCTV cameras should be installed. Surveillance should be stepped up, he added.

The Ministers urged the officials to thoroughly check the passes given to devotees. The procession routes should be thoroughly monitored. It should be ensured that low-lying power lines were identified and precautionary steps were taken, they said.

In addition to the arrangements, the Ministers urged the officials to take steps to ensure that basic amenities such as drinking water and toilet facilities were made available to the public. Adequate medical teams should be deployed and medical teams from the Government Rajaji Hospital should be kept ready for any emergency, they said.

They urged the officials to work together to ensure that the Chithirai festival was conducted in a smooth manner. Mayor Indirani Ponvasanth, Commissioner of Police K.S. Narenthiran Nayar, Corporation Commissioner Simranjeet Singh Kahlon, Additional Collector (Development) S. Saravanan, Deputy Mayor T. Nagarajan, Revenue officials, Deputy Commissioners of the temples and other government officials were present.