The Hindu first heard of Nagarajan while understanding the implications of Aadhaar on ration delivery. At Thakatty Panchayat in Thally block of Krishnagiri district, the locals complained about the dealer at their local shop demanding cash for seeding of ration cards with Aadhaar.
In the same breath, Thakatty villagers talked about how Nagarajan had been a supervisor at their shop a few years ago, and how he would alert them to the arrival of their rations and tracked them to ensure they collected their entitlements before the last date. For a population constantly out on wage labour in far-off places, such information was critical.
Fifty-three-year-old B. Nagarajan, supervisor of the Public Distribution System (PDS) outlet in Natrampalayam, has earned much goodwill in the area for the way he runs his PDS outlet servicing over 1,350 households in Thally block — ensuring smooth and efficient delivery of food grains in one of the poorest parts of the district. When the PDS is beleaguered by complaints of leakage and pilferage of entitlements meant for the poor, Nagarajan’s outlet stands out as a beacon of human goodness. Every day, he boards the bus at 7.30 a.m. from Denkanikottai, some 40 km away, and reaches Natrampalayam at 8.45 a.m. “At 9, his shop is open and remains open till past 6 p.m.,” says Rudran, a villager.
Serving the poor
In most places, cardholders make several trips for each commodity. But in Nagarajan’s outlet, he measures all the entitlements for a card and hands them out at one go. “Many trek 5 km to come here. They need not travel back and forth,” he reasons.
He keeps the phone numbers of all cardholders to alert them to collect their entitlements, if the last date approaches. “They are the poorest of the poor, and depend on these rations. No one should go hungry,” he says.
Nagarajan had assisted eligible households to get the Antayodya Anna Yojana cards that offer 35 kg of rice per household under the PDS — a help that went beyond his call of duty. “There is a huge tribal population in these parts. If they don’t get this, they will go without food,” he says.
An anecdote speaks of the man. It was a Sunday, and the year was perhaps 2009, recollects Sanke Gowdu, a local.
Sundays, back then, were off days for PDS outlets. Nagarajan was tending to his sick son when the then Collector of Dharmapuri, who was on an inspection tour, had found the shop closed and ordered it to be sealed.
When officials asked for a lock from the villagers to seal the shop, they refused to give one, says Sanke Gowdu. “We told the Collector we had no complaints against this shop or the supervisor, and that we will not allow it to be sealed. Then they bought their own lock and sealed the shop,” he says.
“When I met the Collector later at the guest house, she just smiled and handed over the key,” says Nagarajan.
