Shortly after the announcement of dates for the local body elections, the District Administration postponed the grievances redress meetings until further notice.
The meetings, held every Monday at the District Collectorate, were postponed as the Model Code of Conduct comes into force with the election announcement, Collectorate officials said. A notice to this effect was stuck on the gates of the District Collectorate. While a few petitioners returned following the announcement, others proceeded to submit the petitions through the regular window.
K.G. Pudur residents to boycott polls
Members of ‘Youth-Student Federation of All Parties’ in their petition alleged that residents of Kaliappa Gounden Pudur or K.G. Pudur village panchayat in Pollachi would boycott the upcoming local body elections to condemn the delay in construction of a community hall approved by the Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare. According to Kasu. Nagarasan, coordinator of Tamil Nadu Dravidar Kazhagam, there are nearly 1,100 voters in K.G. Pudur, out of which nearly 700 voters are Dalits. Despite meeting Collector K. Rajamani and Valparai MLA V. Kasthuri Vasu on this issue, the work remains incomplete, he alleged.
Groundwater pollution
Residents of Kallipatti village panchayat in Pollachi taluk petitioned Mr. Rajamani alleging that the coir industries in the village were polluting groundwater by discharging effluents into agricultural lands. Petitioner K. Jothi Sathya Priya claimed in her petition that “air, water, humans, animals and agriculture” were affected by the activities of coir industries in Kallipatti. One of the industries had laid pipelines to draw groundwater for its purposes by illegally using the free electricity offered to farmers, Ms. Priya alleged.
