More shoes than feet: when surfeit is pain

Kannur: The centre for collecting flood relief materials in Kannur Collectorate has been suffering from a surfeit of an unusual item: shoes.

As part of collection of essential items to be sent to flood relief camps, the district headquarters received so much of it that now there are 1,000 pairs of new and fashionable shoes lying in wait for recipients. They were received at different times, and include top brands, leather-made ones, sporty shoes and canvas shoes too.

When essential commodities were supplied to the camps, shoes were not included in them, in view of the difficulty in using such footwear in flooded and marshy areas and the fact that most of Keralites ae not habituated to using them.

However, that has created a new headache for authorities with heaps of it starting at them with the question: where and to whom to supply them. In the case of excess dress, the instruction received was that such clothes were to be sent to districts where relief camps are still functioning.

As regards other items, the reported decision is to send them to scheduled tribes resident in Aralam farm. It is not clear if footwear is part of that, and if yes, it is an item welcome there.