A section of people from Perumalkovilpatti village in Athoor taluk sought the intervention of the Collector on Monday to evict people belonging to a different community, who had allegedly encroached upon a ground belonging to a local temple.
The “encroachers” had allegedly planned to sacrifice goats and conduct a festival on the ground belonging to Kathir Narasinga Perumal Temple.
The Kathir Narasinga Perumal Temple is a place of worship for residents from 11 surrounding villages. Differences of opinion between two religious groups in the area have led to animosity for the past two decades. So much that the village even saw violence once, leading to death of a person.
“After many years, festivals from both the sides have been taking place only since the past three months. But the other group has now changed the name of the village and also rechristened the temple ground” said K.K.S. Tamil Selvan, district secretary of Hindu Munnani.
Following the complaint, the RDO visited the village on Monday evening and dissuaded people of the other community from sacrificing goats in the ground and they were asked to remove the pandal. Commotion prevailed in the village for a brief time, due to communal tension. Police force has been deployed in the village to defuse tension.
EOM
