DMK councillor Ramakrishnan of Thoothukudi’s ward 47 proved what was always suspected and never come out in the open; There are kickbacks even in the distribution of state freebies. But he had a “genuine” reason why he collected `10 each from 300 beneficiaries of the free-stove scheme in his ward. “How else can I fund the grand distribution ceremony and besides, what’s wrong taking a small contribution from them when they are getting a gas stove worth over `2,000?”
But, the locals were not impressed by his defence. They rallied behind the Opposition parties, led by the AIADMK, which put up posters in the ward accusing him of pocketing `30,000 squeezed out of poor people. The police landed when a skirmish broke out between the protesters and the councillor’s supporters. Finally, Mr Ramakrishnan was forced to refund the mamool.
“We did not pressure the really poor people. Of the 417 beneficiaries, we collected `100 each from only 300 persons,” said an associate of Mr Ramakrishnan. While the councillor seemed unperturbed by the “scam”, social welfare minister P. Geetha Jeevan offered an interesting answer when asked to comment on the episode.
“Theriyaamal vangittar (he took it unknowingly),” she said. Did she mean that he took the money secretly, surreptitiously? “Oh, no, he took it innocently and when he was told it was wrong, he returned the money immediately,” the minister told this newspaper. She insisted that she had strictly warned all her party functionaries in her native district of Nellai that they should not take money from the beneficiaries of government welfare schemes.
The minister did not explain why she had to issue such a diktat.