Deepavali celebrated with fervour in TN

Deepavali, the festival of lights, was celebrated with traditional fervour and joy across Tamil Nadu today.
Sporting bright new clothes, people, especially children, celebrated the festival by bursting crackers, exchanged greetings and sweets with neighbours and friends.
In Tamil Nadu's cracker city of Sivakasi, a 10-year-old boy died on the spot when he accidentally lit a box containing fire crackers, which burst.
Fire and Rescue Services personnel here said they received a couple of calls of blaze due to crackers adding these were "minor ones," and that there were no loss or damage to property and no one sustained serious injuries.

Tamil Nadu, known for fans of top Tamil actors making a beeline to cinema theatres to watch the Deepavali release of their favourite stars was no exception this year too.
Film buffs, and fans of top actor Vijay whose "Mersel," hit the screens today, thronged cinema halls. Many fans of the actor put up banners, flex boards in cinema halls, multiplexes hailing the actor and wishing the new movie a big success at the box office. A section of them even did "milk abishekam," to the cut out of the actor in some places.

Actor Sarath Kumar's "Chennaiyil Oru Naal-2" is among the other movies that hit the screens today.

Prominent places of worship like the Meenakshi temple in Madurai, Ramanathaswamy temple in Ramanathapuram, Ranganathaswamy temple in Tiruchirappalli and Kamakshi temple in Kanchipuram saw devotees visiting in good numbers on the occasion of the festival.
Sweets, a major feature of the festival saw sweet outlets doing a brisk business. Several popular traditional sweets like 'Tirunelveli Halwa,' 'Srivilliputhur Palkova,' 'Tiruvaiyaru Asoka Halwa,' were among the much sought after sweet varieties.
BJP State President Tamilisai Soundararajan distributed crackers to children and celebrated the festival by lighting sparklers with them here.
Chennai Police Commissioner A K Viswanathan celebrated the festival with police personnel at the Police Commissioner's office here by distributing sweets to them and bursting crackers.

Television channels beamed special programmes on the occasion of the festival. State-run 'TASMAC' liquor outlet chain across the State expect a good sale as was seen in previous years during Deepavali.
Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had appealed to the public to "restrict" bursting of crackers to the "maximum extent possible," on Deepavali as prevailing weather conditions "are not conducive."
Various parts of the State has been experiencing sporadic spells of rains with overcast skies.
Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister K Palaniswami and other leaders had greeted the people on Deepavali.