DINDIGUL
Hundreds of residents from villages on upper Kodaikanal hill thronged the Collectorate here on Monday demanding closure of a TASMAC shop which was opened at their village recently with police protection.
They said more than 300 people had been living at Pethuparai and Vellaparai villages in Vilpatti panchayat. TASMAC officials tried to shift the shop, which was closed at Perumal Malai as per the direction of the Madras High Court, to Vellaparai. “We had been fighting against the move for six months,” said Elizabeth Rani, a villager.
Several petitions were submitted to the Revenue Divisional Officer and the Tahsildar in Kodaikanal, and even to Collector T.G. Vinay in this connection. A resolution against setting up the TASMAC shop at Vellaparai was also passed unanimously at the gram sabha meeting held on May 1, the villagers said.
Demonstrations and agitations were held to draw the attention of government officials. However, TASMAC officials opened the shop at a place very close to a school and a temple at Vellaparai on July 20. Police too cautioned the demonstrators not to create any trouble, Ms. Rani added.
The villagers said now the shop had started functioning near a hairpin bend on Palani-Perumal Malai Ghat Road, which was an accident zone. The new shop would create a lot of inconvenience to students, women and tourists going to Palani from Kodaikanal, said Sumathi Jayaraman of Vellaparai.
When the police asked them to disperse from the Collectorate campus, the villagers told them that they would not leave the campus till the shop was closed. They had come to the Collectorate with rice, cooking utensils and stoves.
When the representatives of the villages met the Collector, he assured them that officials would close the shop immediately. Later, the villagers dispersed.
