Residents of D.B. Road and members of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi on Monday petitioned Collector M. Karunagaran opposing the setting up of a liquor outlet in the area.
In their petition, the residents said that they had learnt that the State-run Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation had planned to establish a retail outlet along with a bar near the Kennedy Theatre bus stop.
The place chosen for the purpose had two children’s day care centres, three banks and was frequented by people. Students, particularly girls, used the bus stop to reach the schools in the area. If the TASMAC administration were to locate the shop at the place identified, it would lead to lot of problems and the security of girl students and women would be threatened.
Very close to the site identified for the TASMAC shop was the place the residents paid their electricity bills. Given the circumstances there was every possibility that the establishment of the shop there would lead to law and order problems and endanger the peace that prevailed in the residential localities.
The residents appealed to the Collector to stop the TASMAC administration from setting up the shop there.
A few kilometres away, in Vadavalli, the residents of the area staged a protest in front of the shop at Kalveerampalayam. The police said that around 50 residents gathered in front of the shop demanding closure. This was around 10.30 a.m. Monday.
Sources said that the residents of Kalveerampalayam, Vadavalli, Navavur Pirivu and IOB Colony staged the protest after a man returning home from the shop died in an accident. The residents, who complained that such accidents were frequent, said that they were staging the protest after the district administration and TASMAC management did not keep their word on closing or shifting the shop.
As the news of the residents’ protest reached the officials’ ears, the police, Revenue Department authorities and TASMAC representatives spoke the residents, who gave up their protest only after the officials promised to remove the shop within a month.
