Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) members, along with residents of Pothumbu, staged a demonstration here on Monday against indiscriminate lifting of soil from two tanks.
DYFI functionary M. Madhavan said soil was illegally lifted by two parties from Mela kanmoi and Keezha kanmoi.
“They have permission to desilt the tanks only for a depth three feet. However, they have dug for 30 feet, thus damaging the tanks’ retention capacity. These tanks used to irrigate 150 acres,” Mr. Madhavan added.
Supply channels blocked
Another group of villagers from Kallanai in Tirumangalam taluk petitioned the Collector, saying an individual had bought 20 acres near the tank, thus blocking all rainwater supply channels to the only water source of the village.
Tamil Nadu Sanitary Workers Welfare Association staged a demonstration demanding housing quarters for them and service regularisation of contract workers.
Water issue
A group of residents from Ponmeni petitioned the Collector about water contamination and scarcity in the area.
One of them, K. Pounthai, said they had been buying water for ₹10 a pot from private tankers. K. Ramani, another resident, said that sewage got mixed in water supplied by the Corporation. As the water was used for drinking also, it would affect health. Besides, the water was supplied only once in four days, he said.
“We have complained to the Corporation officials and the district administration but to no avail,” said O. Periyakaruppan, another resident. A corporation engineer said that work on laying pipelines on eight streets at a cost of ₹19.8 lakh would start soon. It would mitigate water scarcity problem in the area.
Against deletion
Members of De-notified Tribes Welfare Association petitioned the Collector against deleting the name of Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar from the list of freedom fighters in Class 6 textbook.
During the grievance meeting, V. S. Navamani of All India Forward Bloc said that the name must be included again in the lesson.
