Mohanan; his wife, Sumathi; and grandson Gauri Shankar look at the ad featuring them. Vypin, Kochi: A family which obtained a bank loan to build a house after being turned away from government offices several times has been projected as beneficiaries of a government scheme.
Kerala's Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, which marks its first anniversary on Thursday, claims in an ad that Mohanan and family built their house from support extended by its 'Life' plan for the homeless. Mohanan; his wife, Sumathi; and grandson Gauri Shankar of Pallipuram Convent West 21 ward became stars as the ad appeared.
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Their photo was carried with the ad. A girl seen in the photo does not belong to the family, but is unidentified.
It was Congress leaders in Pallipuram panchayat who first pointed out that it was inappropriate to have carried the photo of the family with the ad when, in reality, they were turned away by the grama panchayat and the block panchayat several times.
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The family says they took a loan of Rs 5 lakh from the district bank for the house. Money was loaned from other sources as well. They said an acquaintance had visited a few days ago with a photographer and shot the picture. When queried, the visitor said it was for the first anniversary of the government. The family did not press for details.
Sateeshan, MLA, had raised the issue in the state assembly on Wednesday.
