Days after a newly viral video of actor Jyothika's old speech on the poor maintenance of the Thanjavur Government Hospital created a massive controversy, the district administration has roped in multiple departments to clean the premises of the medical institution.
The cleaning efforts, which began after a visit from the District Collector, has led to the removal of 11 snakes from the hospital premises since Wednesday.
This included two rat snakes, six Russel's vipers which are venomous and three worm snakes. The cleaning activity was ordered by Govind Rao, the District Collector, after he did rounds of the premises on Tuesday. The Fire Services department , Municipal corporation and the Public Works department have been involved in the cleaning process.
Speaking to TNM, Satish, a member of the Endangered Wildlife & Environmental Trust, an NGO which is involved in the rescue of the snakes, says, "We got a call on Tuesday requesting for help to move the snakes. They were on the hospital premises because there is a river which runs behind. Of the snakes we caught so far, six are venomous. The last time we were called to remove snakes was five years ago on this campus."
When TNM contacted the hospital authorities, however, they denied that the cleaning effort was in response to allegations made by actor Jyothika.
"This is a routine clean-up. The hospital requested for help from these departments," the Medical Superintendent insisted.
The hospital has been a matter of discussion over the last week after a speech given by actor Jyothika several months ago was raked up and given a communal colour. The actor had won JFW's ‘Best actress in a women-centric film’ award for the movie Raatchasi where she played a government school teacher. As part of her acceptance speech, she had mentioned that she visited the Government Hospital during the shoot for the movie and was disheartened to see how poorly maintained it was. She added that the Thanjavur Temple, which she'd visited previously, was so well-maintained in comparison.
The actor had said, “So a request — I have said this in Raatchasi too, Gowtham has said — that you are donating a lot of money to temples, painting it and maintaining it, donating to the temple hundi. Please put the same amount into buildings, schools, hospitals. It's very important.”
Several right wingers on social media took offence to her comments though she received a lot of support for her views, too. On Tuesday, actor Suriya who is married to Jyothika, broke his silence and tweeted a statement that said both of them stood by her comments.