Govt officials try to make amends by planning an awards function soon. But before that, they have to go through a long procedure of getting a fresh approval from the finance department
Govt officials try to make amends by planning an awards function soon. But before that, they have to go through a long procedure of getting a fresh approval from the finance department
The government has apologised to Parvathamma Rajkumar for presenting her with a dud demand draft but finds itself in another soup: Who's to make good the new set of DDs?
Officials of the women and child development department swung into damage control mode on Monday after MiD DAY carried a report on officers goofing up with the Kittur Rani Chennamma award presentation and handing over an expired DD for Rs 10,000 to the late thespian's wife.
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Parvathamma is one of the 21 awardees of the Kittur Rani Chennamma award, normally given to women achievers on March 8 International Women's Day. But officials forgot to organise the function this year and by the time they woke up, the DDs had expired. And Parvathamma had to face the embarrassment of taking a 'no' from the bank.
Forgiven
Sources close to the Rajkumar family said a group of officers went to Parvathamma and apologised. The veteran film producer is understood to have taken it in her stride and told them that she would co-operate.
Officials are now in a hurry to get the awards distribution function over with. It's likely to be held in the first week of next month at Bal Bhavan, Cubbon Park.
Who will bill the cat?
But, it's not going to be smooth sailing. The amount that the government had given for the award was accounted for in the last financial year, ending March 31. With the DDs expiring, a fresh approval is needed from the finance department. And that is a rather long procedure.
But P M Narendra Swamy, minister for women and child development, is stepping in to sort out the problem.
"There is a hitch and I am trying to solve it," said Swamy. "Since the chief minister holds the finance portfolio, it should n'tu00a0 be a problem."
He said the department was waiting for the chief minister to set a date for the function before making a formal announcement.
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