It turned out to be 'chill out' time for Tamil Nadu MLAs today as they were treated to the nutritious 'Neera' drink, extracted from coconut trees, in the state assembly.
The legislators were also gifted a packet each of palm jaggery.
"We are happy to be PRO for Neera," said Electricity Minister P Thangamani pointing to the demand of farmers that they be allowed to extract the immature inflorescence of coconut tree to produce the drink.
He was responding to a remark of DMK member P Sekar Babu in a lighter vein whether Deputy Speaker Pollachi V Jayaraman was acting like a Public Relations Officer for the drink.
Earlier, Speaker P Dhanapal and Jayaraman told the legislators that 'neera' was also available in the House canteen and asked all to taste it.
In response, Sekar Babu said he tasted it and it was good.
Later, legislators, officials and journalists were also provided chilled neera at House canteen.
According to the Coconut Development Board website, Neera is the "vascular sap collected from immature unopened coconut inflorescence."
It is a sugar containing juice, a delicious health drink and a rich source of sugars, minerals and vitamins.
Recently, the state government had introduced a Bill in Assembly to amend the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act,1937 in order to facilitate extraction and processing of neera from coconut trees and to issue licences for its marketing and export.
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