About 650 voters at Ammapattinam village in Pudumadam panchayat in Ramanathapuram district staged a protest on Sunday, and threatened to boycott the May 16 Assembly elections, condemning lack of civic amenities in the village.
A day after lodging a complaint at the taluk office, the villagers, including a large number of women, led by village leader Ramaiah, staged the protest, stating that they would boycott the election if the government authorities did not fulfil their demands before the election.
After they made repeated representations, officials at the Collectorate and taluk offices assured them that they would look into their grievances, but no official had so far visited the village, I. Praveen (30), an entrepreneur from the village, said.
They had been struggling in vain to get an anganwadi centre and a ration shop inside the village, he said, adding at present the womenfolk had to walk four km to purchase essential commodities from the ration shop.
Similarly, they had been representing to Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation to replace the old and rusted electric poles, but nothing had happened, and the dilapidated poles continued to pose a threat to the lives of the villagers, Mr. Ramaiah said. For several years, there was no proper road to the crematorium and the main road to the village was riddled with potholes, he said.
After they staged a protest, leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Naam Tamizhar Katchi visited the village and assured them that they would help solve their problems, but the residents did not trust them. Political parties gave them false promises during the last election, and this time the villagers would change their decision only if the government authorities fulfilled their demands, he said.
The villagers erected a flex board in the village, highlighting the civic problems by displaying photographs of damaged roads, crematorium without proper road cremation platform and dangling electric wires.
Collector visits
polling booths
Meanwhile, District Election Officer and Collector S. Natarajan visited sensitive polling stations at Oriyur and Thondi, coming under Tiruvadanai Assembly segment and inspected the arrangements.
