THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium, one of the main festival venues in the capital city looked like its usual self on Thursday, with a huge pavilion and people jam-packed inside it. But a closer look would have revealed that Thursday's programme was different from the regular ones. Tears and hope had replaced fun and excitement on the faces of the crowd that had gathered here. The stadium was the venue for the mass contact programme of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, a programme which promised speedy redressal of the public's grievances. Despite the scorching heat, Thursday turned out to be a day out for the public and public servants. While for the former, the day was all about relief and hope, hectic work was all that the latter had. Thousands of people had thronged the venue seeking relief regarding various issues. While the grievances of most were addressed on the spot, many others, whose petitions needed detailed study, were asked to return to the offices concerned on another date. Dileef, a daily wage worker from Kallara, was one among the several thousands whose grievances were redressed immediately on the spot. Forty days ago, Dileef had lost his parents, Abdul Wahid and Suhara Beevi, to a first-of-its-kind road accident, when an ambulance caught fire. The ambulance was rushing to the Medical College Hospital carrying Dileef's 18-month old daughter, who had consumed kerosene by accident. Dileef received a cash cheque of Rs 4 lakh from the Chief Minister. The numb look on his face expressed his feelings better than words. "Money cannot be a substitute for lost lives. However, I am grateful to the CM for addressing my grievance so quickly," he said. He also added that the the representatives of the private ambulance service had not contacted him or offered any help even once after the mishap. For many, the mass contact programme was the last straw of hope in life. The group of 20 plantation workers from Bonacaud outside the city belonged to this category. They represented about 1,000 families who had lost their livelihood after the owner of the private plantation closed it down about 15 years ago without any notice. "As if closing down without a notice was not enough, the plantation authorities also denied us the provident funds and other monetary benefits that we legally deserved," said M Selvarajan, the leader of the group. Even though they had filed a complaint before the Labour Department their problem could not be solved as the owner, a north Indian, never turned up for the hearing before the Labour Commissioner.
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