CHENNAI: Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Thursday wrote his first letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was about the consecration of St Antony’s Church at Katchatheevu, which was postponed from December 7, following the demise of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
Pointing out that while 100 pilgrims from Ramanathapuram had sought permission to attend the event, the Centre had accorded ‘political clearance’ only to 20 people from Tamil Nadu. Chief Secretary P Rama Mohana Rao had written to the Foreign Secretary about this recently.
Panneerselvam said since the church is of significant cultural and religious significance to lakhs of fishermen from Tamil Nadu, many of them were keen to participate in the ceremony. “I request you to kindly direct the Ministry of External Affairs to facilitate the participation of all fishermen devotees from Tamil Nadu who wish to participate in the consecration ceremony, without placing any restriction on the numbers,” the letter read.