Paddy bags in Nellai temple stirs social media storm

A video showing paddy bags piled up inside the temple and its ancient heritage was circulated through WhatsApp and it later went viral on social media. The video content revealed a representative of Hindu Tamilar Katchi member fuming over the storage of paddy bags at the place of worship without respect for the sanctity of the site. 

Citing that it was not acceptable, he asked whether such acts of storing paddy bags would be allowed in churches and mosques. He then wondered how HR&CE authorities could allow Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation to stock the paddy in the temple. Therefore, he sought action against those who allowed to store the paddy there. 

According to sources from Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC), around 3,000 bags of paddy were stocked in the mandapam of the temple and it was certainly not a place of worship. The site was actually earmarked as direct procurement centre (DPC)s for paddy. The same centre existed previous year and there’s no issue from the locals and farmers. 

However, the paddy bags are being cleared to shift it by three trucks either to taluk godown at Veeravanallur or else in cap storage point. Tonnes of paddy have been cleared from the temple premises on Monday, sources said. Veeravanallur police say there’s no complaint regarding this issue, so far.