Tap tease
In Eriodu Town Panchayat of Dindigul, villagers were delighted — at last, they were getting a water tap hooked up to the Cauvery Combined Water Scheme. The Karur Lok Sabha MP Jothimani was the guest of honour. She arrived with full fanfare, cut the ribbon (or turned the tap, in this case), and was met with cheers. But the elations dried up faster than a appalam in peak May sun. Moments after the MP left, villagers rushed in with buckets, visions of clean, gushing water in their heads. Instead was a pipe capped with plastic and — lo and behold — no tap. Fuming, they marched to the office of Eriodu Town Panchayat vice president Jeeva, who was just as baffled. He promptly lodged a complaint with the police. When questioned, the panchayat staff replied coolly that the tap was only a temporary arrangement. Some work is still pending. We’ll put it back later. Arguments flowed faster and despite the drama, poor Jeeva was in deep waters; he still couldn’t get the tap reinstalled.
Saravanan MP
Nip good cops in the bud
In Coimbatore city, the roads were even more dotted than fly eggs on rotting meat. Accidents? Oh you mean everyday affairs. Tired of waiting for civic authorities to get out of their seats, the local police took matters into their own hands — literally. Officers started patching up potholes using cement from passing concrete mixers. Just a DIY civic fix beyond their duty to stop more crashes. Applause poured in. But, the initiative would soon hit a speed bump. Why? Turns out the civic body wasn’t too thrilled about being outperformed by “police with patch kits”. Egos slighted by the attention on their failure, they nudged the police to back off. Coimbatore’s roads are back to playing Jenga with commuters.
R Kirubakaran
Economical with the truth
The Vellore district administration and a prominent university in the city recently played host to a very ‘exclusive event’ – the kind where PowerPoint slides flow freely but the truth? Quite selectively. Director of School Education Dr S Kannappan was all set to present an analysis of the Class 12 results at 10am. Naturally, the press was invited, however at the eleventh hour, the hosts ‘postponed’ it to 3.30pm. When clock struck magic hour, reporters trickled in only to find Kannappan mid way through the presentation, unpacking data on which subjects were sinking faster than political promises. Just as headlines started taking shape, the reporters were promptly escorted and served tea – clearly not the kind that spills. The message was clear – sip, don’t scoop.
Dheepthi OJ