Summer Festival @ Cuddalore
Cuddalore:A woman `karagam' artist demonstrating her skills on the Silver Beach on the opening day of the Summer Festival.The inauguration of the summer festival on Silver Beach here on Wednesday was a tame affair. The menacing rain clouds and the delayed start sent a lot of people scurrying home.The fete, organised to promote the folk arts, appears to have neither benefited the artists nor the general public.The artistes were made to wait hours on end, and owing to the late commencement, they had to cut short their presentations.
Physically challenged persons, drawn from far off places such as Parangipettai, Khammapuram and Vriddhachalam on the promise of given tri-wheelers, were made to wait at the venue from the afternoon.The function scheduled to start at 4.30 p.m. began only at 8.30 p.m. owing to the delayed arrival of Backward Class Minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam and Fisheries Minister K.P.P. Sami.Mr. Panneerselvam inaugurated the boat yard set up by the Cuddalore Municipality at a cost of Rs. 25 lakh in the night.The supporters, who accompanied the Minister, pushed around even the thin crowd present there.
Though 70 stalls had been set up at the venue to highlight the achievements of the Government Departments, half of them remained empty, and the Ministers took a long time to inspect them. For the arrival of the Ministers' convoy, the policemen posted at various points en route to the beach had been diverting the traffic. The holiday crowd, which had decided to get to the beach, were disappointed. Mr. Panneerselvam said he was scared of the thunder and lightning, and doubted whether the inauguration could take place at all.
He said, on the request of Cuddalore MLA G. Aiyappan made in the Assembly, a Rs 1.20-crore proposal for the development of Silver Beach had been sent to the Centre.Mr. Sami said the Government had proposed to give away equipment worth Rs.110 crore to tsunami-hit fishermen.It had disbursed Rs.86 crore as revolving funds to the 30,000 self-help groups formed in the 13 coastal districts.Mr. Aiyappan said the Tourism Minister had agreed to sanction Rs.10 lakh either for setting up a park or a hotel at the beach. District Collector Rajendra Ratnoo, Superintendent of Police Pradip Kumar, Municipal Chairman T. Thangaraju, Vice-Chairman P. Thamarai Selvan, and Saba. Rajendran, MLA, participated.
