A middle aged widow who had been running from pillar to post for more than one and a half years to get back the original certificates after failing to secure compensation for her husband’s death, heaved a huge sigh of relief on Monday when officials got her the certificates, thanks to the ultimatum served by the Collector to the officials.
When D. Arul Mary, 35 presented a petition, narrating her plights, on September 16, Collector K Veera Raghava Rao, taking serious exception to the lapses on the part of the officials, had served an ultimatum and directed them to trace and return her certificates, including her husband’s death certificate, post mortem report and legal heir certificates in a week.
On Monday, Ms. Mary was all smiles as she told Mr Rao that she got back all the certificates in original and thanked him for coming to her rescue. The Collector said he would ensure that the hapless widow secured the compensation of ₹ 4 lakh within two weeks and directed the officials to take necessary steps.
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Thanking the Collector for the relief, Mary said she had lost hope of getting back the certificates and compensation. The Collector has promised to get her compensation and she was confident of getting the relief, she told reporters.
Mr Rao, who was receiving petitions from the public on public grievances redressal day, advised the officials at the block and taluk levels to accord priority to petitions received from the public and take action on them. Action would be taken against officials who failed to act on petitions or delayed action, he warned.
Mary’s case was that after the death of her husband in May 2018, she had applied for compensation after submitting all the required certificates in original at the RS Mangalam taluk office on July 5, 2018. Since then, she had been visiting the taluk office and district headquarters here after the officials said the certificates submitted by her could not be located.
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