The Coimbatore city police department along with Sree Daksha Properties, Coimbatore celebrated Pongal with the villagers of Sadivayal, near Alandurai by hosting 'Kattupongal'. The celebrations was hosted at the Government primary school located in Sadivayal. Men, women and children from 15 villages which comes under the Karunya Nagar police station limits participated in the celebrations.
Inspector General of Police, West Zone, Pari participated as chief guest and flagged off the celebrations. The event was organised by SP, Ramya Bharathi. Close to 1000 villagers participated in the celebrations.
When speaking on this occasion, he said, “The festival of harvest pays tribute to the farmers and agriculture. Pongal festival is celebrated only by Tamil people. But farming is not only practiced only in Tamil Nadu, it's practiced all over the world, hence Pongal becomes a universal festival for all.
The Sun is the hero for this festival, as without sunlight agriculture cannot thrive. So, the first day of the Pongal starts by worshipping 'The Sun', the ultimate power. The farmers worship the sun and pay their respect and tribute to the Sun. Worshipping Sun has been practiced since ages around the world.”
“The second day of the Pongal is celebrated to thank the cattle which are helpful for the farmers to farm. The third day of Pongal is denoted as 'Kaanum pongal', a day on which we host relatives and friends to celebrate the festival. We all are glad that we have met all of you on this Kannum Pongal day. The happy faces we see here should always remain happy and the children present here should aim to become officials like the officers who have come here today' IG Pari said.
Forest and the land associated with forests are termed as 'Mullai' in tamil. But though the Pongal festival we celebrate here is named as Kaatu Pongal but we are surrounded on all sides by huge mountains, which now makes this as Kurunji Pongal too. Everyone of us present here regard you all as our own family. We assure you that we will stand besides you and guide you in all your endeavours. This day is a very memorable day and it's a great pleasure to celebrate Pongal with you all in the middle of this forests.” he said.
As part of the celebrations, the villagers and the college students performed cultural performances, music and dance programmes. Traditional games like kabaddi, tug of war, rope pulling, kabadi, uriyadi, running race were hosted. Prizes were also distributed to the bnest-performers and winners. The whole lot of people from 15 villages enthusiastically participated in the events and thoroughly enjoyed the moment.
Forest Officer Dinesh, Additional SPs Mohan, Nawas and Mutharasu, Officials from homes guards, police inspectors, forest department officials and panchayat presidents were present during the celebrations.