Friday, January 6 2006 19:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Tamil Nadu State Minorities Commission today (Jan 6,2006) welcomed the Government's 'Annadhanam' (poor feeding) schemes introduced in Churches in the state from December 25.

"It is a social scheme and not a politically motivated one and nobody need to have any fear," the Commission's Chairman Bishop M Prakash, Vice-Chairman Dr T Kamal Sheriff and member Dinshaw Pathak told reporters here. The scheme was 'purely a voluntary scheme' and the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had given Rs one crore and "The interest accruing out of this amount is being used for the scheme," they said.

The Chief Minister had created a 'Annadhanam' Trust which is being administered by the Commission.Two senior Government officers were overseeing the scheme's implementation.

Asked why there was a division in the community over the implementation of the scheme,Prakash denied any division and said few Church leaders like Archbishop Peter Fernando had made some suggestions, which the Commission would take up with the Government.

"Any apprehension that people may have will dissipate as the scheme progressed over the months," he said.

A section of the Christian community has opposed the scheme on the ground that there could be Governmental interference in the Churches functioning.