After several rounds of visits to the Collectorate and government offices in Thiruvananthapuram, Zaira Banu, a native of Koduvally, finally won her battle against red tapism. Her long-pending plea for a new house was instantly sanctioned by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who also slammed a senior Revenue Officer for the laxity shown in implementing an earlier order on the same application.
Ms. Banu, who attended the mass contact programme of the Chief Minster on Saturday along with her husband and disabled son, had a quite annoying story to tell him. Within a period of three years, she visited the district officials 15 times to process the request. Strangely, the plea had earlier been cleared by Mr. Chandy himself during the first mass contact programme in 2011. The file, however, remained untouched and gave more trouble to the family.
Ms. Banu said the family was running from pillar to post for meeting the treatment expenses of her 13-year-old son who is suffering from cerebral palsy and epilepsy. “We have already spent lakhs of rupees for his treatment. For medicines alone, we need Rs.1,500 a month,” she said. As per the Chief Minister’s new order, the family would be given a new house and three cents of land in Nellikkode village. An initial aid of Rs.5,000 was sanctioned. Arrangements would also be made for free medicines under Asha Kiran project.
In support of Zaira’s family, a team of Youth Congress activists too turned up at the venue. They said the District Collector did not look into the complaint even after frequent requests. However, the Collector denied the charge.
