Date:17/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/17/stories/2008081753510300.htm

Other States - Puducherry

Freedom fighters made to wait at function meant to honour them

S. Dorairaj

There was a big scramble at the entrance as the elders were asked to produce their pension books for verification

Photo: C. Venkatachalapathy

Tough task: Freedom fighters emerging from the marriage hall after receiving the dress material, in Puducherry on Saturday. —

PUDUCHERRY: It was an agonising wait for over 1,800 freedom fighters and dependent pensioners who were invited to a tea party at a private marriage hall on Vallalar Salai in Puducherry on Saturday.The official function was arranged by the territorial government to honour the freedom fighters as part of the Independence Day celebrations.

Though the invitation read that Chief Minister N. Rangasamy would host tea at 5 p.m., several freedom fighters and widows of freedom fighters thronged the venue much ahead of the schedule as word spread that dhotis, saris and dress material would be distributed to them by 2 p.m. There was a big scramble at the entrance of the marriage hall as the elders were asked to produce their pension books for verification before receiving tokens.

Once the formality was completed with great difficulty, hundreds of freedom fighters and dependent pensioners had to vie with each other to find their way into the marriage hall through a narrow passage to submit the tokens and receive the “package of honour” which included a bed sheet, a dhoti and shirting material and a sweet packet for men and a sari in place of dhoti and shirt material for women.

With age telling on their health, many of the freedom fighters were seen emerging from the marriage hall using walking sticks, walkers and callipers. With much difficulty, they carried bags bearing the pictures of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru used for keeping the dress material supplied by the Pondicherry State Weavers’ Cooperative Society.

Chief Minister fails to turn up

The saddest part of the story was that the Chief Minister did not turn up, as he had some political work in New Delhi, a freedom fighter said, adding that MLA R. Viswanathan distributed the material.