Virudhunagar
Increased number of phone calls seeking help received to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s “Ondrinaivom Va” from Sivakasi and Tiruthangal have revealed that the most of the jobless employees of fireworks units are badly hit, said Tiruchuli MLA, Thangam Thennarasu.
Mr. Thennarasu, who is also the DMK Virudhunagar north district secretary, said that except for a few popular brands of fireworks units, most of them are run on a contract basis and employees do not get much support from the employers.
“We have been distributing essential goods, including rice, dal, edible oil and vegetables to the needy people for the last five days. But, the number of calls that was around 150 from Tiruchuli, Sivakasi and Virudhunagar Assembly constituencies has now increased to more than 500 as the number of jobless days was increasing now. More number of calls are from Sivakasi and Tiruthangal,” he added.
Besides, the DMK cadre were also attending to other emergency needs of the poor people. “Many of them were asking for medicines for chronic ailments and our cadres are attending to them at the earliest,” the MLA said.
The DMK office-bearers were also trying to reach out to vulnerable sections of the district, like folk artistes, auto and van drivers, who have lost their livelihood for the past 40 days due to the lockdown.
“We have so far covered over 3,500 families in the district,” he added.
They have also planned to cover all the Sri Lankan refugee camps and distribute groceries and vegetables to every household, Mr. Thennarasu said.
He also added that the DMK functionaries had appealed to the Viruhunagar district administration to open fireworks industry at the earliest, though with all safety restrictions, to ensure that the workers get their livelihood back.
