Salem: A young post-graduate woman, who was forced by circumstances to live on the railway platform in Salem has been offered a shelter by the Salem Collector. Her relatives and neighbours shunned her because they found the allergic boils all over her body quite unsightly.

It was a poignant sight as 24-year-old Kalaivani, with allergic abscesses all over her face and body, walked into the Salem Collectorate, with tears streaming down her eyes.

Accompanied by Subha, the DMDK MLA of Gangavalli, Kalaivani narrated her traumatic tale to the Collector, K. Maharabushanam, who immediately made arrangements for her treatment and stay. As a child, Kalaivani, a native of Tiruvannamalai, had lost her mother, Thanjaiammal and later her father.