Stating that an individual had encroached upon a burial ground used by Arunthathiyar community, residents from Ambedkar Nagar at N. Vellalapalayam in Nambiyur Taluk urged the district administration to survey the land and remove the encroachments.
In a petition on Monday, they said 120 Arunthathiyar families, comprising over 500 people, were living in the area for many years and were using the government poramboke land located at the north side of the village for burials. The land measured 1.33 acre and 20 years ago an individual whose land was located near the burial ground had encroached upon 75 cent of the burial ground and was carrying out farming. Despite many representations to revenue officials, no action had been taken to remove the encroachments, the petition said.
On September 30, one of their community members died and when they took the body for burial, they found the ground completely encroached and the individual had fenced it. On October 1, Nambiyur Tahsildar and police personnel visited the village and removed the barbed wire and helped them bury the body.
On October 15, when people went to perform rituals, they found an earthmover removing the body. A complaint was lodged with Varapalayam police station at Nambiyur, they added.
The petition said the burial ground was used by the community for many generations and wanted the district administration to survey the ground, remove encroachments and ensure that their rights were restored.
Over 60 persons staged a sit-in protest inside the Collectorate premises and wanted officials to receive petitions from them and resolve the issue. They raised slogans and later officials received petitions and assured them to initiate action after which they dispersed.
