S Jothimani, the Tamil Nadu MP from Karur, withdrew her sit-in protest at the district collectorate on Friday evening, November 26, after Revenue officials promised to conduct special camps for persons with disabilities without any delay. Jothimani had been protesting outside the Karur Collector’s office since Thursday afternoon, demanding the district administration to conduct special camps where assistive devices are given to persons with disabilities under the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation (ALIMCO), a public sector unit under the Union government.
As the protest entered the second day, the Revenue Department officials held talks with the MP and promised to conduct the camp at the earliest. Following this, the MP told the media on Friday that if the camps are delayed again, she will protest again.
The Congress MP, along with many of her supporters, began protesting after her talks with Karur Collector T Prabhu Shankar regarding the camp yielded no satisfactory response. The MP, during her conversation with the Collector, pointed out that such special camps for people with disabilities were conducted in several other districts in Tamil Nadu.
Due to the delay, the MP said she would conduct the camp if there was no response from the district officials. On November 25, she tweeted, ''I have personally visited 6,300 out of 6,800 villages in my constituency. I was shocked by thousands of people with disabilities who have sought our assistance. Will I ask for a camp if there is no need?”
Questioning the reason for the delay in conducting such camps, the MP also tweeted, ''Be it Union government schemes or state government schemes, they are funded by the tax collected from the people. On what basis did the district collector decide that a Union scheme is not needed for Karur now?"
As talks between the Collector and the MP did not yield any result, the MP stayed at the collectorate on Thursday night, the photos of which went viral on social media.
Further, the Congress MP claimed that Collector Prabhu Shankar is corrupt and told media persons during her protest that there is a certain notion among people in the district that files will only move to Collector’s desk if a certain amount is paid to the official.
Subsequently, Karur collector Prabhu Shankar, on Thursday night, tweeted, “Truth will win.”
Meanwhile, Jothimani also tweeted a letter written by the Collector for not conducting the camp. The letter stated that due to the COVID-19 second wave and its restrictions in place and due to mega vaccination drives conducted in the district, the special camps for persons with disabilities cannot be conducted earlier.
On Friday, Jothimani also shot a letter to Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu, asking if assistive devices can be provided for the needy with state government funds.