District Collector K. Senthil Raj has planned to utilise the services of ‘petition writers’ on the Collectorate premises, who used to collect small amount for writing petitions for the public on Mondays to be submitted to the Collector, by giving them wages for preparing petitions for the aggrieved public without charging any money from them.
When Dr. Senthil Raj was receiving petitions from the public at the Collectorate on Monday during the weekly grievances redressal meet, he spotted 80-year-old man sitting along with the differently abled petitioners with the petition.
As the Collector took the petition from frail-looking Sivananda Perumal of Nadu Naalumoolaikkinaru near Tiruchendur, the petition with the thumb impression of the old man prayed for ‘patta’ for a land.
When the Collector asked him about the petition, he replied that someone sitting near the entrance of the administrative building had prepared the prayer after he gave her ₹ 50 and said he had to spend ₹ 200 for travelling in the bus along with his wife.
“We had our breakfast in our home… Since we’ve already spent ₹ 200 towards bus fare and for preparing the petition, we can have our lunch only after reaching home as I don’t have any money now,” the old man replied.
Dr. Senthil Raj immediately came out of the meeting hall and started walking towards the entrance of the administrative building even as the confused officials and the police followed him.
He sat next to a woman writing petitions for the public. When he asked her about the charges for writing the petition, the woman, without knowing that the person sitting next to her is the Collector, replied that she was charging from ₹ 30 to ₹ 50 based on the content of the petition. “So, I’ll be getting from ₹ 500 to ₹ 700 on Mondays as this is my livelihood,” the lady said.
Mr. Senthil Raj told the woman, “I’ll provide you the right space inside the administrative building for writing the petitions for the public. Since I’ll make arrangements for giving you the wages for writing the petitions, you should not take money anymore from the aggrieved petitioners coming even from far-off places by spending money”.
Even as the woman was confusingly looking at the Collector and agreeing to the new arrangement, the public standing nearby told her that he was the Collector. While the stunned woman got up in a hurry, Dr. Senthil Raj assured her again that she could help the public without her livelihood getting affected.
The Collector said he was prepared to give ₹ 700 to the ‘petition writer’ from the Collector’s discretionary funds.
“It is a win-win situation for all concerned. While the public will get their petition prepared without spending a rupee, the ‘petition writers’ will get what they used to earn by preparing the petitions. Since they will be monitored, due action will follow if they take money from the public for preparing petitions as we’re going to bear this expense,” Dr. Senthil Raj said.
