Aadi Perukku arrangements at Ammamandapam

Thiruchirapalli

Aadi perukku is a festival which enlivens social life and unites people by bringing everybody together in joyful celebration, and falls on the 18th day of the Tamil month of Aadi.  Married women observe this day with great fervour and dedication by performing  rituals to the mother Cauvery for the long and healthy life of their husbands and it is considered as another auspicious event involving family members performing tharpanam (rituals for ancestors) to invoke  their blessings.

This year, the festival falls on August 2 and anticipating a huge turnout of the devotees this year too, the civic body has made a series of preparations. Apart from repairing the sanitary complex close to the Ammamandapam and flooring there, the civic body has already deployed three shifts of sanitary staff each having 50 members at the place. They have cleared the plastic wastes and clothes littered in the area.

Meanwhile, additional mobile toilets would be stationed around the mandapam and medical camps at three locations with two shifts headed by two doctors and seven medical staff have been planned and seven ambulance services will be operated.

Similarly, purified water connection has been arranged in front of the mandapam and an additional 20 water tanks will be placed across the road for uninterrupted drinking water supply.

“We have decided to make it a plastic-free zone and so we have sought the support of a few NGOs and college student volunteers to distribute paper cups and bags made of paper and cloth. The volunteers will collect the plastic bags carried by the devotees and hand over the paper bags to them,” said NS Prema, Corporation Commissioner.

The commissioner also said that CCTV cameras were being fixed around the area  to monitor the movement of people and prevent untoward incidents.

The police and fire and rescue services department have also deputed personnel for round-the-clock vigil.