Respond & serve even at midnight: Minister’s motto

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Rural Industries and Slum Clearance Board Minister Tha Mo Anbarasan is respected for his punctuality. A reporter with this newspaper had already written his experience with the on-time arrival of the minister to public functions and meetings.

The minister has reached another height by making ripostes to people on social media even during the wee hours. It was the experience of this newsman when a power shutdown occurred in his area at midnight.

Frustrated, he escalated the issue on the Twitter platform in a mild tetchy tone. Since the minister is the MLA for his area, he tagged the lawmaker without expecting a response.

But lo and behold! Anbarasan responded around 12.13 am, minutes after this reporter tweeted about the power cut. The minister thanked him for bringing the issue to his notice and assured him of taking necessary action. As he promised, the power resumed in 5-10 minutes.

For politicians, being active on social media is as essential as their working in the field. The rural industries minister seems to have a firm grasp of it and has been engaging with the public regularly.

Of course, the tweet could have been posted by his admin or some other approved persons. But the fact remains that they cannot post anything sans the minister’s consent. A laudable effort, indeed, by the minister and his SM team!