CHENNAI: In what turned out to be his last day in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and two days before his accidental death, a focussed CPI legislator SP Muthukumaran got answers to all his queries involving several departments and was even lauded by the Deputy Speaker P Dhanapal for getting it right from the ministers.On March 30, participating in the Budget debate, he highlighted the plight of those living in government land under water catchment area classification and requested giving patta if such lands were not required by the government.Revenue Minister KA Sengottaiyan, referring to the Supreme Court ban on issuing pattas that involved poromboke land in waterways and lakes, assured that the State would study the issue. When Muthukumaran referred to government buses being seized on the orders of courts, Transport Minister Senthil Balaji listed the number of buses released after making payments.The CPI MLA then referred to the ambiguity on the number of examinations an aspirant should take for teaching jobs in the State. School Education Minister NR Sivapathy said there will only be one qualifying examination for secondary grade, graduate, and post graduate teaching positions.The debate on this issue got extended when CPM MLA Balabarathi wanted the government to provide jobs without insisting on any qualifying examination to which ministers Sivapathy, P Palaniappan and C Ve Shanmugam replied by stressing on the need for quality in teaching. After the debate on teachers’s appointment ended with the ministers’ reply, the Deputy Speaker said: “You have got so much explanations by posing your questions. Now, please complete soon.”Muthukumaran requested the chair to deduct the time taken by others and jumped on to issues in local administration and then moved to the free laptop scheme. He demanded to know if students who complete their school final in the current year would be getting laptops too. Information Minister KT Rajenthra Balaji reassured that all students would be getting the laptops.At this, Dhanapal told Muthukumaran that he had got the right answer from the Minister and urged him again to end his speech. Still, the Communist Party member pleaded for one more minute, which was granted. Muthukumaran now wanted to know if students in their college final year would be receiving the laptops. To this, the Information Minister replied every student would be getting a laptop.A first time MLA, the Left member remained rooted to issues that he had decided to raise. He started his address by 1.45 pm and ended at 2.15 pm. A soft-spoken man, Muthukumaran used to always wear a red shawl and could be easily identified by this accessory though he was seated in the last bench. The untimely death of the legislator is no doubt a shock to the House. N Mariampitchai (AIADMK) too was killed in a road mishap while C Karuppasamy (AIADMK) died after a chronic illness.
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