Kollywood Vishal suggests cash haul to foot mid-day meal bill

Kollywood actor and Nadigara Sangham leader Vishal, noting that Rs 570 crore cash was seized during the poll campaign at Tirupur in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, tweeted on Saturday that the money be spent for the mid-day meal scheme for schoolchildren and also their education. This money would be sufficient for the purpose, he said. This assembly election is beating all records for the haul of cash in the Tamil Nadu poll. Since the poll notification was issued during April-end, money bags were being caught on an everyday basis, the Rs 575-crore haul being the highest. Apart from cash, gold coins, liquor, dhotis and saris are also being seized. Since both the major Dravidian parties had announced Prohibition on their agenda, parties have been pleasing the public with liquor. Paper chits are being given to people, which they can take to the nearest liquor shop and get free liquor. The haul is crossing all records because the IAS and IPS probationers are also being deployed for election duty in the State. Normally, the seized cash goes to the treasury. But if only Vishal's suggestion is taken seriously, one year's mid-day meal cost can be taken care of without any special allocation.