The Public Relations office of the Thrissur Collectorate on Sunday said that despite the orders given by the District Collector to store relief material for the flood-ravaged state in a room of the Bar Association, the office bearers of the association had failed to comply. However, when Collector TV Anupama issued a notice to the council, it opened up its rooms.
“Because of a lack of space to store the supplies collected to be distributed to the various relief camps across the state, the Disaster Relief Authority Chairperson and Thrissur District Collector, TV Anupama, vacated room numbers 35 and 36 of the Bar Council at the Civil Station to store the supplies,” the press release reads.
It adds that when the Bar Association office bearers did not let them store the relief materials in those rooms, they invoked the Disaster Relief law 2005, Section 34 (H) (J) (M)) to ensure the rooms were opened up to store the supplies.
“This lack of space comes at a time when food supplies and disaster relief materials are coming from other states as well,” said the press release.
According to a report by Mathrubhumi news, District collector TV Anupama is reported to have said that once a notice was issued, the Bar Association was willing to let the rooms be used for storing the relief materials.
She also added that at this point of time, when Kerala is reeling under unprecedented floods, she did not wish to engage in any controversy or arguments with anyone.
It has also been reported that the Bar Association members told the District Collector in a meeting that they didn’t open the rooms initially because they didn’t get any notice, but once they got an official notice, they opened the rooms so they could be used to store the relief materials.