Tiruvallur public irked to get rice in bags with expired date from Ranipet
Vellore Collector P Kumaravel Pandian took to social media to streamline relief material collection due to the portico and the lobby of the Collectorate being filled with constantly arriving relief material
More relief materials stacked in front of Vellore Collectorate on Friday
RANIPET: Packing of rice meant for flood-hit in Chennai from Ranipet in bags with expired dates printed resulted in unnecessary hassles at Poonamalee Panchayat Union in Tiruvallur district on Thursday. The bags were among the three lorry loads of relief materials sent by Handloom Minister R Gandhi.
Though many took the bags, a few noticed the expiry date legend on the bags, which resulted in officials being questioned by the beneficiaries. With the state government already being blamed for water logging of many areas days after Cyclone Michaung, this issue aggravated an already angry public, sources said.When asked about the row, Ranipet Collectorate official said, “The Minister planned to supply rice in 10 kg bags. As there were not sufficient bags, the white cloth bags were used, but what nobody noticed was that they carried the legend “From the people of Tamil Nadu” followed by the wording “MK Stalin, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.”
What aggravated beneficiaries was the small square at the bottom left, which had the weight – 10 kg, manufacturing date - 5/22 and expiry date – 4/23. The obvious inference was that the bags were originally meant for relief material supplied to some other state. However, officials had a tough time explaining the issue to the public before their anger subsided.
Meanwhile, Vellore Collector P Kumaravel Pandian took to social media to streamline relief material collection due to the portico and the lobby of the Collectorate being filled with constantly arriving relief material. Stating that the CRA (Commissioner Revenue Administration) had provided a WhatsApp number 91-7397766651 for those intending to provide relief he called on those willing to fill up a google form which would be sent to them regarding the type of contribution.
While small quantities of food/non-food material were to be handed over to the district administration, those providing lorry loads of similar items would be directed to the distribution location based on their filling up the google form. Those wishing to contribute cash could do so to the CM Public Relief Fund as follows: IOB, TN secretariat, account No:117201000000070, IFSC code – IOBA0001182, CMPRF PAN – AAAGC0038F. More than 8 lorry loads of relief material were sent on Friday too in the presence of Vellore MLA P Karthikeyan.
