Chennai:
In Tamil Nadu, the DMK government launched a project called Samthuvapuram to provide free houses and promote brotherhood between Dalits and dominant communities across Tamil Nadu. But at a colony in Madurai the real beneficiaries don't live in these houses, their tenants do. And the situation is the same across 148 such projects.
"Most houses here have been either leased or rented out. Some houses even remain shut," says a resident. "Some get Rs 10,000, some demand Rs 5,000," adds another.
In just 10 years, many of these projects have become dilapidated. And the ruling DMK blames the previous Jayalalithaa government for the mess.
"Did they do anything to maintain these projects? No, they did nothing," says M K Stalin, Deputy Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu.
A year before Assembly polls, the DMK has announced 95 more such projects. One third of them will be completed this year at a cost of Rs 75 crore.
It's not just free houses that are being misused to make profits. The ruling DMK's popular free colour televisions have also been making their way for sale to markets in neighbouring states.
The ruling DMK seems to have terribly gone wrong in identifying needy people. And in the name of populist schemes for political gain public money is going down the drain, quite literally.