People of four villages in the island, including a large number of women and members of various political parties staged a protest at Sambai against the opening of a TASMAC shop in the village on the way to ‘Ramar paadham,’ a temple for Lord Ram’s feet, located in a sandy hillock.
After the authorities made ready the newly built bar attached shop and all was set to open it on Saturday, people from Sambai, Parvatham, Mangadu and Amirthapuram villages, joined by members of various political parties gathered in front of the shop and protested against the opening.
Carrying placards, urging the authorities not to open the shop, the villagers, especially women said that the shop being relocated between Sambai and Ramar paadham temple would not only pose problem for the villagers and students who used the road to visit Rameswaram town, but also to the pilgrims, who visited the Ramar paadham.
‘Preserve sanctity’
As no pilgrim would complete the pilgrimage to the island without visiting the temple of Ram’s feet at Parvatham, the liquor shop on the way to the temple would pose a lot of inconvenience to them, they said. The sanctity of the pilgrim island could be preserved only if it was free from liquor, they said.
C. R. Senthilvel, secretary of the Rameswaram unit of Communist party of India (Marxist) who was in the forefront, said the officials had made all arrangements to open the shop but detracted for the time being after the protest.
After the Supreme Court order, eight of the 11 liquor shops in the island were closed and presently, only three shops were open in Pamban, he said.
The pilgrims’ island was already freed from cinema houses and it was time, it was freed from the menace of liquor also, he said.
Peace meeting
After they staged the protest, local Tahsildar convened a peace meeting, which adopted a resolution, urging Collector S. Natarajan not to accord permission for opening the shop, he also said.
The meeting was attended by representatives of political parties, villagers and the police, he said.
