The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Krishnaveni finds a saviour in Jayalalithaa

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 25, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Krishnaveni finds a saviour in Jayalalithaa

S.Dorairaj

CHENNAI: The tide has finally turned for A.Krishnaveni, the 73-year-old former Congress legislator who represented the Andipatti (Reserved) constituency in 1962. Henceforth, she need not sweat it out in the fields of Ammachiapuram in Theni district to eke out a living or share a cattle shed with the bovines.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday decided to deposit Rs. 5 lakhs in Ms. Krishnaveni's name and allot a rent-free flat to her. Announcing this in the Assembly through a suo motu statement, she said: "It is my duty to duly honour the former member, who represented women and Dalits 44 years ago, and rescue her from poverty conditions."

Lifelong benefit

As promised by her in the House on Monday, in response to Congress MLA C. Gnanasekaran's plea to sympathetically consider the plight of the septuagenarian, Ms. Jayalalithaa said the amount from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund would be deposited in the Tamil Nadu Power Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation in the name of the Theni Collector.

The monthly interest of Rs. 2,917 accruing from the fixed deposit would be given to Ms. Krishnaveni as a lifelong benefit. Apart from this, instructions had been given to allot her a flat in the Government staff quarters of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board at Aranmanaipudur village in Theni taluk. She could reside there permanently without paying any rent.

Travails

Ms. Krishnaveni had served Mahatmaji Girls' Home at Theni for several years as manager, apart from heading the Women's Welfare Association at Periakulam. She was a member of the Panchayat Union Council in Andipatti.

If women in public life have to undergo travails even today, though gender equality is an accepted norm, it must not have been an easy task for a woman, that, too a Dalit, to become a legislator and serve society four decades ago, Ms. Jayalalithaa said.

Anguish

"I was anguished to learn that the forward-looking woman, who had served people... had to sleep in a cattle shed as she did not have a house. I also came to know that though the former MLA had been receiving a monthly pension of Rs. 6,000, a big chunk of it had to be remitted towards the loan raised for the medical expenditure of her sons."

No bias

Ms. Jayalalithaa said she had been extending such assistance without any political bias, to give due respect and financial security to those who had served society. Speaker K. Kalimuthu and Mr. Gnanasekaran thanked the Chief Minister for extending a helping hand to the former MLA.

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