Source : The Hindu Date : 02.06.2009
Financial assistance arrears given to 43 poor artists
Special Correspondent
| Beneficiaries include sculptors, thavil, nadaswaram and street play artists |
— Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan 
FULFILLING THE NEED: Vellore Collector C. Rajendran handing over a cheque for Rs.8000 towards arrears of monthly financial assistance to an artisan at the Collectorate in Vellore on Monday. Additional Collector A. Suganthi is in the picture.
VELLORE: Vellore Collector C. Rajendran handed over cheques for Rs.8000 each towards payment of arrears of monthly financial assistance at the rate of Rs.1000 per month for eight months to 43 artistes and artisans belonging to the weaker sections during the weekly ‘manu needhi naal’ (public grievances redressal day) meeting held at the Collectorate here on Monday. The beneficiaries included sculptors, thavil and nadhaswaram artistes and street play artists.
There was huge crowd at the ‘manu needhi naal’ meeting on Monday, since the weekly meeting was held after a gap of 12 weeks, and for the first time after the recent Lok Sabha elections. The weekly public grievances redressal day meetings as well as the monthly agriculturists grievances day meetings were suspended till May 28, following the Election Commission notification of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Collector received a total of 624 petitions from the public on Monday. The petitions related mostly to land patta, patta transfers, employment, loans, financial assistance, free house site pattas, assistance for the differently-abled, old age pension, police protection and electricity connections. The Collector forwarded the petitions to the concerned department officials for immediate action.
Mr.Rajendran also handed over cheques for Rs.25,000 each towards financial assistance to 12 beneficiaries to meet their expenses on heart surgery under the Tamil Nadu State Cardiac Patients Financial Assistance Scheme. Besides, he distributed cheques of Rs.20,000 each towards financial assistance to 12 beneficiaries under the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammayar Marriage Assistance Scheme.
One of the petitioners a retired nutritious meal organiser of Katpadi requested for payment of his gratuity arrears, while another petitioner –an old age pensioner–from Vellore said that his old age pension (OAP) was stopped after he received it for seven months. He petitioned the Collector to restore his OAP.
