COVID warrior tahsildar celebrates award with party, shunted out

Merely two days after she received the Chief Minister’s special award during the Independence Day celebration for being a successful frontline warrior against COVID-19, Kundrathur tahsildar S Jayachitra was shunted out as the superintendent of Chennai-Bengaluru National Highway scheme. The reason: she threw a biriyani feast for her colleagues to celebrate the award, flouting lockdown restrictions that prohibits such gatherings.

The feast was given on Monday, the first working day since Jayachitra collecting the award, and was organised at a guesthouse belonging to the Public Works Department near Chembarambakkam lake, sources said.

There were more than 100 invitees, almost all of them government officials from Kundrathur taluk, reportedly including sub-collectors, deputy tahsildars, village assistant officers, revenue inspectors, and assistant. A video from the feast that went viral on Tuesday even showed the tahsildar herself serving food to the guests.

When asked about the event, Kundrathur police said that no case has been registered yet as they have not received any complaint.

The news about the feast understandably created a flutter among officials and others, as it is the Revenue Department – to which she belongs – that is responsible to prevent any such gathering. The impact was evident within hours, as she was transferred out of the post on Tuesday. Jayachitra was not available to comment.

She was one of the three officials from the Revenue and Disaster Management department from across the State to have won the special award that was handed over by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami during the Independence Day celebrations on Saturday.

It may be recalled that a similar party took place in Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district a few weeks ago. Soon afterwards, a few of the participants tested positive to COVID and two of them eventually succumbed to the virus.