Matchmaking prevention cell
Ethiraj College for Women in Chennai appears less like a college and more like a parental surveillance bureau. Here, a transfer certificate is not a document but a family outing: a student can only collect it if she physically brings her parents. One student, whose single mother was bedridden, dared to submit an authorised letter—only to be told, after a day of bureaucratic suspense, that she must wait for her mother’s recovery. When TNIE pressed for a reason , a teacher offered: “In the past, a few instances occurred where girls took TCs without their parents’ knowledge and eloped with boys. So, to avoid such instances, the rule was framed.” Clearly, nothing safeguards education like turning a college into a matchmaking prevention cell.
Binita Jaiswal
Peace achieved — No duty paid
The great tug-of-war at Tiruchy Customs seems to have drawn to a close, not with a handshake but with a transfer slip. For weeks, two senior officers were engaged in a bureaucratic version of musical chairs, each undoing the other’s staff postings at the airport. Officers barely had time to unpack their teacups before being whisked off again, leaving them dizzy from all the to-ing and fro-ing. Complaints flew faster than duty-free liquor bottles, with some staff feeling more like pawns on a chessboard than public servants. Thankfully, one of the officers has now been packed off to the GST and central excise department. The rest can get back to stamping passports instead of trying each other’s patience.
P Thiruselvam
No entry
In Tirunelveli, around 4,200 people brought in buses to receive free house pattas from minister KN Nehru were left cooling their heels outside the Nehru Kalai Arangam on Saturday. The hall, it turned out, was already occupied by the government Siddha medical college for its diamond jubilee function. Revenue officials who had ferried the beneficiaries conveniently switched off their phones, leaving men, women and the elderly stranded. The beneficiaries were later taken to the collectorate and given the pattas. What was supposed to be a welfare bonanza turned into a game of musical chairs – except the music never stopped and the chairs were missing.
Thinakaran Rajamani
Dose of drama
In Hosur, National Deworming Day took a dramatic turn when a private school refused albendazole tablets for its students. The visiting health team was not just turned away but allegedly threatened by retired health officials whose grandchildren study there, an elected representative, and even another health department official in Krishnagiri district. The District Health Officer then sent a notice to the school, flagging several irregularities in the institute. In short, the health team went in to get rid of worms in children and ended up stepping on a whole nest of political ones. Sivaguru S
(Compiled by Adarsh TR, Dinesh Jefferson E)