Unwilling to wait for ‘Thaimaaman gold ring,’ man assaults village health nurse, kin

Thanjavur: A village health nurse and two of her relatives were attacked by a man in Kumbakonam on Saturday after he picked up an argument over collecting a gold ring under the state govt’s new ‘Thaimaaman Thanga Mothiram Thittam.’ Police on Sunday registered a case against the man, based on a complaint from the nurse, R Alamelu.The scheme, launched by chief minister Joseph Vijay on Sept 28, entitles babies born between Jun 22 and Sept 28 to a one-gram gold ring. The state govt has been clearing the backlog by allotting parents specific time slots to collect the ring based on date-wise seniority.Madan of Muzhaiyur and his wife Vanitha had a baby boy at Kumbakonam govt hospital on Sept 16. Alamelu R, 35, the village health nurse at Patteeswaram primary health centre, had registered the birth. On Saturday afternoon, Madan visited the PHC and demanded the ring. When Alamelu told him that it would be issued only according to his allotted slot and asked him to leave, he picked up an argument.According to police, later in the evening, he turned up in an inebriated condition at Alamelu’s house and demanded the ring. He threw stones at the premises and allegedly abused her. On being alerted, her aunt B Sujatha and brother V Suman confronted him. Madan allegedly attacked all three with a spade and fled. The injured trio were admitted to Kumbakonam GH for treatment.“I explained to the beneficiary Madan that there is a cap on how many people can be given the rings each day. But he resorted to violence. When I went to Patteeswaram police station to register a complaint, the cops asked me to get admitted at the GH. It was only on Sunday afternoon that they registered the case after we were admitted to the GH,” Alamelu said.Doctors said the distribution responsibility should be given to the social welfare department. “Since the gold is stored in govt hospitals, we have to take care of its security. With staffing shortages and high case volumes, managing physical gold distribution at the time of patient discharge adds heavy clerical and administrative stress,” said Dr T Aruleeswaran, treasurer of the service doctors and PG association.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Trichy | Silver Rate in Trichy | Bank Holidays in Trichy | Public Holidays in TrichyStay updated with the latest Trichy news. Download the TOI App.