All mentally challenged children at a children’s home at Nilakottai had been waiting for more than one and a half hours behind their routine lunch hour to taste the feast offered by the AIADMK party functionaries for their party leader Jayalalithaa’s birthday.
More than 200 children, aged between five and 16 years, stay in the home at Thiraviyam Nagar in Nilakottai block.
Nilakottai panchayat union party functionaries, led by Yagappan, had arranged a feast for the inmates on Tuesday. He announced that the feast would be served in the presence of Dindigul MP M. Udayakumar.
The party men, children and home authorities were waiting till 1.30 p.m., but the MP did not turn up to serve the feast. Many of the children were famished. A majority of them, who could not express themselves, were highly restless and the caretakers in the home struggled to manage them.
The home authorities too hesitated to explain the condition of the mentally challenged children to the party functionaries.
The party men, who had assembled in the home well in advance, tried to contact the MP. After 1.30 p.m., the MP informed the cadres over phone about his inability to come.
Later, the party men served food to the children.
Some party men also expressed their disgust over the long wait thrust upon the children.
Normally, the children would have their lunch between 12 p.m. and 12.30 p.m. and go for a nap in the late noon as they needed rest, said home authorities.
