TIRUNELVELI
Sanitary workers living in the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board apartments here have urged the Collector V. Vishnu to provide them temporary shelters.
The petitioners said over 100 families, which were living in the apartments at Ambedkar Nagar in Manakaavalanpillai Nagar in Palayamkottai, had to move out as the damaged apartments would be razed down for constructing new dwellings by the Tirunelveli Corporation.
Since the construction of the apartments would consume five years or even more, the evicted families should be settled in temporary shelters within the city limits since they, all sanitary workers, could not find a house for rent with their trivial earnings, they said.
Members of Hindu Annaiyar Munnani submitted a petition urging the Collector to declare local holiday for Tirunelveli district for the ‘Aadi thavasu’ festival of Sri Sanakranarayana Swami Temple in Sankarankovil to be celebrated on August 10.
“After declaring local holiday for this festival when Sankarankovil was part of composite Tirunelveli district, the practice has been given up after Tenkasi district was carved out of Tirunelveli district. Since the devotees from Tirunelveli would participate in this festival in large number, local holiday should be declared for this annual event from this year onwards,” they said.
Chidambara Vadivu of Kaariyaandi submitted a petition seeking the Tamil Nadu government’s intervention to rescue her son K. Mahesh, 27, who is stranded in Cambodia after going to the Southeast Asian country for work. She said Mr. Mahesh, who reportedly paid Rs. 5 lakh to a Nagercoil-based agent for getting employment in Cambodia, was forced to do illegal activities after he landed in the country.
“When my son refused to get involved in illegal activities, he was asked to leave the country after paying the agent another Rs. 2.50 lakh. After my son informed me about this issue, we paid Rs. 1.25 lakh to the agent through his account. However, the agent, who has confiscated my son’s passport, is keeping him under illegal detention. So, the Tamil Nadu government, through the External Affairs Ministry, should take steps for rescuing my son and take action against the agent,” she said.
On behalf of Bahujan Samaj Party, a petition was submitted urging the Collector to issue community certificate to the Hindu Kaattu Naicken community people approving them as Scheduled Tribes.
