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Saturday, January 9, 2010

Policeman attacked on road, ministers stare from cars, don't help


A policeman, R Vetrivel, in Tamil Nadu lies on the road begging for help. The 44-year-old's legs have been chopped off by gangsters.

A government convoy passes by this part of Tirunelvelli. It includes two ministers  - for Sports and Health - in the Tamil Nadu government. The convoy stops.  Neither of the ministers step out of their cars. With them are bureaucrats - a Collector and a Health Secretary.

The Collector, M Jayaraman, finally gets out of his car after dithering for eight minutes. But nobody offers to take the wounded inspector to hospital. Finally, the Collector phones for an ambulance. It doesn't arrive.

Twenty minutes later, the cop is placed in one of the cars (the ministers still don't offer theirs). The policeman dies en route to the hospital.





After the ambulance drives away, the Health Minister finally gets out of his car.  When contacted later for a comment, he angrily asks the NDTV correspondent to leave him alone.

Tamil Nadu's Health Minister is M. R. K. Panneerselvam. The Minister for Environment and Sports is Thiru T. P. M. Mohideen Khan.

The senior bureaucrat, VK Sunburaj, who was in the convoy, says there's nothing wrong with what transpired. "We did our best possible in that situation. It takes twenty minutes for ambulance to come...Police did a good job," he said to NDTV in a phone interview.

The video is shot by a free lance cameraperson who was covering the ministers' visit. It contains disturbing images and is not suitable for children

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