Protests banned inside collectorate

Taking a serious note of a recent incident in which trade unions owing allegiance to the ruling and opposition parties staged protests and resorted to slogan shouting inside the collectorate building during office hours, the district collector M.G. Rajamanickam on Wednesday banned all kinds of protests on the collectorate premises.

A circular has been issued to all trade unions making the collectorate premises out of bounds for protests while warning stern action against those violating the ban.

“Charges of trespassing and obstructing the functioning of public servants will be slapped against anyone found guilty on this count. Trade unions can protest but only outside the collectorate building,” he said.

Tension prevailed inside the collectorate building on Monday after ruling and opposition trade unions staged separate protests leading to police intervention.

Trade unions owing allegiance to the opposition parties initially staged the protest against the alleged attempts to make some revenue officials scapegoats for the perceived efforts to sabotage the chief minister’s mass contact programme held in the district last month.

However, following police intervention, they limited their protests to the verandah of the collectorate building.

Later in the afternoon, the trade union affiliated to the ruling party staged a protest in the administrative hall of the collectorate against the alleged delay in taking action against officials who tried to sabotage the mass contact programme.

This drew vehement opposition from the Left-affiliated trade unions, which accused of double standards on the part of the police by allowing their rivals to stage protest inside the collectorate.

The situation was defused after the collector held talks with the trade union leaders here.