Govt declares Jan 17 public holiday for MGR birth centenary

: The Tamil Nadu government today declared former Chief Minister and AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran's birth centenary on January 17 as a public holiday for the State.
The holiday is applicable to all State government offices, corporations, local and cooperative bodies, boards constituted by the government and all banks, including cooperative, schools, colleges and all other educational institutions.
In a Government Order, Chief Secretary Girija Vaithiyanathan declared the holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act and asked private companies to consider declaring January 17 as a holiday for their employees in view of the centenary event.
AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala had already said that the birth centenary would be celebrated in a befitting manner.

She will garland the statue of MGR at the party office here and participate in the centenary celebrations.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to issue a commermorative coin and a special postage stamp to honour the late leader.
M G Ramachandran, affectionately called 'MGR', was Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu between 1977 and 1987 and founded the ruling AIADMK in 1972.
A top ranked actor of yesteryears, MGR was also a popular DMK leader and a legislator before he founded the AIADMK following a feud with DMK chief M Karunanidhi.