Kottayam: The Left Democratic Front has been trying hard to defend the sacking of a temporary employee of a veterinary hospital within the Puthuppally legislative assembly constituency where a bypoll campaign is now on.
It was widely reported that P O Sathiamma, the temporary employee of the Kaithepalam veterinary hospital, was sacked from her job for praising former Kerala Chief Minister late Oommen Chandy.
J Chinchu Rani, minister for animal husbandry, and V N Vasavan, minister for cooperation and registration, claimed she was removed from service as she was impersonating another worker.
"K C Lijimol was appointed as the temporary sweeper at the hospital. The salary is also being credited to Lijimol’s account. But it was Sathiamma who was doing the work. How this has happened is not known,” Chinchu Rani said.
The ministers denied the allegation that Sathiamma had been removed from service for speaking highly of Oommen Chandy.
Sathiamma refutes charge
However, Sathiamma denied that she was impersonating another worker.
“Lijimol and I are members of the Aishwarya Kudumbashree unit. We do the job in six-month turns. Lijimol, who has health problems, allowed me to continue in the job after realising the difficult situation in my house”, Sathiamma said, adding that she had been working for the past 11 years in this job.
Lijimol, however, declined to comment on the issue, stating she had nothing to say for now.
Oppn latches on to row
Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition, V D Satheesan, said that the government was citing technicalities over Sathiamma’s dismissal.
What is pertinent is whether she had been working as a sweeper at the veterinary hospital till the other day, he stated.
Satheesan said that if those who speak well of Oommen Chandy were to be dismissed, almost all employees of the State would have to be sacked. He asked Minister Chinchu Rani to take Sathiamma back into the job.
The controversy
On August 11, a TV channel showed Sathiamma praising Oommen Chandy and speaking in support of the UDF candidate Chandy Oommen. She was replying to a query by a channel reporter on the Puthuppally by-election. Sathiamma was dismissed on August 21. The District deputy Director of the animal husbandry department reportedly called her over the phone and instructed her not to report for work henceforth. Sathiyamma said the deputy director said there was 'pressure from above' to get rid of her.
Soon, the leading political parties took up the issue. Leader of the opposition Satheesan and MLA Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, visited Sathiamma and promised support to her.
As a political row erupted, she commenced a protest in front of the Puthuppally sub-centre of the ahnimal husbandry department, demanding that she should be taken back into the job.
Official stand
A report of the director of the animal husbandry department says that Sathiamma had been working from September 2022 to February 26, 2023, and that Lijimol had been appointed till August 24 after that. It says that the deputy director of the department had visited the veterinary hospital on August 16 and found that she was impersonating another.
She was dismissed on the basis of this finding, states the director's report.
