Ration rice rerun, mills make moolah
The unbreakable nexus among Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation officials, Civil Supplies-CID police and rice mill owners allows PDS rice already sold to be circulated again and again in ration shops in southern districts with unscrupulous elements pocketing lakhs through the illegal trade. According to sources, mill owners who get government contracts for hulling paddy, sell the paddy load they receive from government directly to other mills. They instead purchase ration rice from consumers through hundreds of middlemen, pack it in government sacks, and push them into the PDS system again with the support of officials and police. While about 23 mills got hulling contract in Tenkasi district, only one of them supplies fresh rice to the government as per the terms of contract, sources said. In several cases, law and order police are seizing smuggled ration rice while Civil Supplies-CID police remain mute spectators.
Fake paint job exposes corruption
Recently, an association member of Adi Dravidar Welfare Teachers and Wardens association shared a video with this reporter which showed a painting work done at an adi dravidar welfare hostel. Authorities had just painted the front portion of the hostel to send a photo to the head office to pocket the routine maintenance amount of `15 lakh and had left other parts of the building unpainted. The work they had done would have cost just a few thousands. The video shows huge cracks in the building and windows. While crores of rupees are allocated for maintenance, hardly any work is done and the money directly goes to the pockets of officials. They don’t care about putting the lives of children at risk and there is no one to oversee it, the member said.
In a spot of bother
Recently, Usilampatti MLA P Ayyappan’s car wheel was locked by Madurai airport security staff, with the driver inside, as he had parked the vehicle in the parking spot marked for emergency vehicles at the airport. The MLA had come to see off former chief minister O Panneerselvam.
Education minister’s slip of tongue
While declaring the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) rank list, higher education minister K Ponmudy wanted to highlight the achievements of state board students in the exam as over 100 students had scored full marks of 200. He, however, wrongly referred to the state board as TNPSC. Though reporters were confused initially, they soon understood the minister’s slip of the tongue.
When in trance, have a laddu
Minister for Minorities and Non-Resident Tamil Welfare Gingee K S Masthan participated in a road work bhoomi pooja at R Nayampadi village near Gingee on Saturday. During the event, a woman claiming to be possessed by goddess Kannimar approached him. The minister respectfully asked her identity and she said she is goddess Kannimar. The woman in trance went on to say she wanted a road to be built in the residential area near her temple. The minister assured her that the road would be constructed and requested her assistance in persuading the residents who were opposing the project. The woman said the decision ultimately rested with the minister, to which he responded affirmatively, assuring her that he would take necessary steps and requested her support. He also asked her to protect the village and offered her a laddu to calm her down.
(Contributed by Thinakaran Rajamani, Subashini Vijayakumar, Gayathri Venkatesan, Binita Jaiswal & Bagalavan Perier; compiled by Jacob B Jacob)