AIADMK event at Corporation main office raises eye brows

Conservancy workers with the freebies distributed to them at a function hosted by the Coimbatore Corporation on Monday.

The Thondamuthur Assembly Constituency unit of the AIADMK led by the party’s Coimbatore rural district secretary and Minister S.P. Velumani on Monday distributed personal protection kits to doctors and paramedical staff and relief materials to conservancy workers.

The party held the function at the Coimbatore Corporation head office in Town Hall in the presence of District Collector K. Rajamani, Corporation Commissioner Sravan Kumar Jatavath and eight MLAs, all from the AIADMK.

Protection kit

The Minister said, “We are giving 1,000 personal protection equipment to as many doctors and paramedical staff and relief materials in the form of a few essential commodities to conservancy workers from the Corporation, municipalities, town panchayats and village panchayats in the district – around 7,500 persons in all.”

The boxes that he distributed to the workers carried stickers that showed that they were sponsored by the Thondamuthur Assembly Constituency AIADMK unit.

The stickers carried the photographs of the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and former Chief Ministers M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa.

There was neither the State government insignia nor that of the Corporation.

Two MLAs, who attended the function, said the Minister, who represented the Thondamuthur Assembly constituency, had sponsored the personal protection equipment and relief materials from his personal funds. It was not even from his constituency development fund.

The Minister further said the AIADMK had foot the bill at the budget canteens (Amma Unavagam) and so far over five lakh people had benefited.

Though the officials were present at the stage, they did not give away any of the relief materials to the conservancy workers.

A senior Corporation official said though the AIADMK might have sponsored the personal protection kits, since it was an event intended to honour the frontline workers – doctors, paramedical staff and conservancy workers – the Corporation decided to host the function.

The function was, in essence, an event to honour workers and therefore there was nothing wrong in giving the place.

Besides, the Corporation decided to have the function on its premises because of the lockdown restriction and not in another place, as originally planned.