CHENNAI: The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department has announced that free spiced buttermilk (Neer Mor) would be provided to devotees in 48 temples across the state, as the early onset of summer is sweltering.

The department would launch the scheme of distributing spiced buttermilk to devotees in major temples on Friday. The programme aimed to quench the thirst of the devotees coming to temples in the summer season, Minister for HR and CE P K Sekarbabu said on Thursday.

The department would also lay coir mat inside the temples to help the devotees avoid walking on big slabs of black granites during the summer season, he added.