Students of a private college at K.G. Chavady on Monday petitioned District Collector Archana Patnaik against the management. They told reporters here that the management collected processing fee saying that the college was running at a loss.
The students had been on strike since Tuesday last. But the management did not respond to the students’ question, nor did it hold the talks. The management closed down the college on Monday, asked hostel students to vacate, and resorted to coercive tactics to collect money from the students.
The management threatened to place students under suspension.
The district administration should probe the allegations and take necessary action before examinations begin, the students said.
Land to Dalits
Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday submitted a petition asking the district administration to demarcate the land given to Dalits to enable them build houses. Led by the party’s district secretary V. Ramamoorthy, and the Untouchability Eradication Front leader, U.K. Sivagnanam, they said that the administration in 2002 had allotted eight acres to 234 Dalit families in Irugur Town Panchayat to help them construct houses.
Each family was supposed to get between one-and-a-half cents and 2 cents.
But soon after the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department allotted the land and gave title deeds, litigations continued for the last 12 years. The cases were settled now. But the administration has not allocated the land to the Dalits, they said.
Promotion
The Tamil Nadu Oivupetra Kavalar Nalasangam, in a petition, urged the State Government to promote all constables and head constables, including retirees, as special sub inspectors and provide the attendant benefits.
The retired policemen’s demands included promotion as deputy superintendents of police for direct recruit head constables, including retirees, and disbursement of attendant benefits, correct basic pay for police inspectors, tahsildars and forest rangers as per G.O. 71, exemption for policemen from the new pension policy just as the Union Government had extended the benefit for defence personnel, increase in payment of election wages from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000 and extension of subsidised sale of groceries to retirees.
Land records
Members of the Anti Corruption Movement, Coimbatore, urged the district administration to update land records, alleging that lack of it was promoting corruption. In a petition, the organisation said that after the transfer of ownership of land, the authorities do not update the records.
Senior Revenue Department officials were supposed to check the same at ‘Jamabandhi’ meetings. But in Coimbatore, the records had not been updated. When people approached the Revenue Department officials for ownership certificates, they were made to run from pillar to post.
And, to get things done quickly, the officials demanded bribe. The recent arrest of a village administrative officer was proof enough for this. Action should be taken against owners of illegal buildings, the petition said.
