CHENNAI: Minister for Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments, PK Sekar Babu on Sunday responded to the story carried by The New Indian Express about the plight of a couple named Sundaramurthy and Suguna who were fighting to stave off hunger inside a waterlogged house in Chief Minister MK Stalin's Kolathur constituency.
Sekar Babu personally visited the house of the couple and told this correspondent that the chief minister himself had asked him to redress the grievances of the couple. Hence, he went there and made arrangements to pump the stagnant water from inside the house where the couple live as tenants. Sekar Babu said the house sits 4-ft below the ground level and water was seeping from the earth.
"I oversaw the work relating to water being pumped out of the house with the help of a motor," the minister said.
In the meantime, until the house is cleaned and made fit for occupancy, the couple has been shifted to a school nearby.
The minister said he provided provisions and a sum of Rs 10,000 as temporary relief to the couple.
"The couple are AIADMK loyalists as was evident from the photographs of the leaders adorning the walls of the house. But, the CM wants to redress the grievances of all sections of people irrespective of their political affiliations," he noted.
Meanwhile, Kolathur inspector of police Aju Kumar said he has roped in NGOs to offer food for the couple. The motor for pumping out water from the house of the couple was also arranged by him.
As reported, the couple lived by running a tiffin centre in a cart by the roadside. But since the outbreak of Covid-19, and Suguna being a diabetic, they were unable to continue their small business and fell on hard times.
After the minister's visit, TNIE contacted the couple and they said that they were presently put up in a school and they are being provided food for now. But resuming their tiffin stall still remains a question mark, they pointed out.