In a noble gesture, the Gandhigram project of Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala MLA has built a house for Mahesh, a boy abandoned by his parents but went on win a gold medal at the state school games. The key of the house was handed over to Mahesh by Chennithala himself, who named it ‘Gandhigram.’
The parents of Mahesh, who hails from Nepal, had gone away after leaving him with his grandparents when he was just nine months old. Brought up by his grandparents, Mahesh won the gold medal in discus throw at the Kerala state school games held at Thiruvananthapuram in 2018 as a student of Leo XIII School, Alappuzha. His victory was highlighted in a report in ‘Malayala Manorama’ with the headline ‘Mahesh’s revenge’, alluding to the title of a popular Malayalam movie. The report suggested that Mahesh had taken a sweet revenge on his parents, who had abandoned him.
Based on the report, the Alappuzha Municipality and the then Finance Minister of Kerala T M Thomas Isaac promised a flat for Mahesh to live. However, the plan failed to materialize.
Meanwhile, Chennithala, who was the state’s Opposition Leader at that time, also had noticed the ‘Manorama’ report and decided to act. He instructed the then president of the Alappuzha District Congress Committee (DCC) M Liju to build a house for Mahesh under the Gandhigram project. Thomas Joseph, who was the municipal chairperson, donated three cents of land free of cost to Mahesh for the purpose.
Now with his dream of an own house fulfilled, Mahesh, a Class X student, will now receive the furniture also from the DCC. “The DCC will bear the expenses of Mahesh’s future education too,” said A A Shukoor, a member of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.
Liju and Thomas Joseph, DCC vice-president, also accompanied Chennithala when he handed over the keys.
