As part of its struggle urging the State government to render justice to the Dalits in Paramakudi police firing incident, Puthiya Tamilagam will hold a hunger strike here on December 6, its president, K. Krishnasamy said on Sunday.
Talking to reporters, he said the government should treat the death anniversary of Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran, the day on which seven persons were killed in police firing at Paramakudi, as ‘Memorial Day'; provide compensation of Rs.5 lakh to those who lost their lives and government job to at least one person in the family.
“As the State government failed to heed to our requests such as taking action against the police officers and suspending them, we are conducting the hunger strike on Dr. Ambedkar's death anniversary. Prior to that, we will hold public meetings in all the districts from November 10 onwards to create awareness. We will be holding meetings every month until the State government accepts all the demands,” he said.
Mentioning that he sensed a huge scam in allocation of at least 22.5 per cent petrol bunks to scheduled caste/scheduled tribes, women and differently-abled persons, he said,
“Since 2008, three oil majors in the country have issued licences to only seven people under this category against 1,200. Hence, I have sought a white paper from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.”
