CHENNAI: After migrant workers and daily wage earners were left in lurch following the lockdown, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department has stepped to provide food to the needy.
Instructions have been sent to all the major temples across the state to provide food to the poor, needy, migrant workers and those who have been left in lurch following the lockdown, according to a top HR&CE official.
As a result, major temples in and around the state have started providing food to the migrant workers, daily wage earners, destitutes and homeless.
Officials in Lord Murugan temple in Tiruchendur and Palaniandavar temple in Palani have been coordinating with urban local body and revenue and municipal authorities to provide food to the needy, a top HR&CE official said.
"In Tiruchendur, we are already providing food to around 175 people since March 20. We are also coordinating with Urban Local Body and Revenue officials there. Similarly, around 140 people are allowed to stay in our dormitories and food is being provided from the beginning of Lockdown in Palani. We are working in coordination with Revenue and Municipal Authorities," he said.
In Madurai, food is currently being provided to 50 to 60 needed people around the Madurai temple area from Friday and efforts are on to reach the daily wage earners by contacting the local administration in Madurai.
Similarly, a tribal settlement in Marudamalai is being taken care by temple authorities. "We are providing food in the afternoon in packets for 120 people in tribal settlement in Marudamalai temple," official said.
This comes after migrant workers working in various construction sites across the state are left in lurch with the rail and bus connectivity being cut. Some are left with no alternative but to hitch rides in trucks to reach their native places but being turned away at the border areas.
Similarly in Thiruverkadu, fifty sambar and fifty curd rice parcels have been requested and arrangements have been made to distribute it to daily wage workers. In Samayapuram also, officials are making arrangements to provide food for daily wage workers.