A man reached the office in the morning, poured petrol near the corridor and set it afire. The incident happened at Neyyatinkara Taluk office on Tuesday morning.
A few months after a middle aged man, frustrated with red tapism, set the Village Office at Vellarada in the capital district of Kerala, another man tried to torch the Taluk Office at Neyyattinkara in the district on Tuesday to protest an alleged delay in releasing the financial aid to his distressed family.
On Tuesday morning, close to 8:30 am, the man reached Taluk Office and poured petrol inside the corridor and set it afire. No one, except the cleaning staff and watchmen, was present at the office and no one was injured in the incident. The Police team reached the spot in a few minutes and doused the fire.
The police also detained Suresh, a former expat who returned from Middle East a few years back, from the spot. He confessed to police that he set the office on fire to protest the official apathy towards him and his family. With four family members to support, he was finding it difficult to make both ends meet.
Though the government granted financial aid to him from Chief Minister's relief fund, the Taluk officials were purposely delaying the release of the money that he needed urgently to meet medical needs, Suresh told the police. Police also suspect that the man is mentally unstable.
Meanwhile, Neyyatinkara Tehsildar denied the allegations. Suresh had come to the office on Saturday morning and inquired about the progress in his application for aid. Neither his application for aid nor an official order granting him the money had reached the office and the officials had briefed him about that, the officer said.
