Tirunelveli: The recently elected mayor of Tirunelveli corporation proved herself the first lady of the city by extending a compassionate hand to an aged, mentally ill woman, soaked in rain and lying unnoticed by people busy with their Deepavali purchases at Tirunelveli railway junction bazaar on Tuesday.
The 75-year-old woman, whose identity could not be traced as she is not mentally sound, was said to be have been there for the past three days. Her backbone fully bent, the deserted woman cannot move without help, said a shopkeeper nearby, who has been giving her tea and food for the last two days.
However, as none cared to help the woman to move to a safer place, she remained in the same spot for three days in the rain, with just a polythene bag to cover her head. Not having eaten properly, she was physically very weak.
“We could have lifted her had she been physically well. But she was so feeble that we feared to move her, concerned that we would end up worsening her condition if we moved her,” said the local traders.
Mayor E. Bhuwaneshwari, who passed by the road inspecting water-logged areas in the city on Tuesday morning, happened to see the drenched and deserted woman. Immediately, she got down from her car, covered the aged woman with a shawl from her car and called the ambulance.
Even when the mayor was trying to lift the woman, none of her staff came forward to help her as the woman in rags was stinking.
The mayor immediately contacted the Tirunelveli government medical college hospital dean who made all arrangements for the treatment of the abandoned woman.
The mayor refused to speak on the issue when mediapersons asked her about it. She simply said, “Leave it.”
