Seven-year-old A. Akash of Padur took his protest against Tasmac to the next stage on Monday by leading a team of schoolchildren from his village to meet the District Collector to present a memorandum against the opening of liquor outlets at Padur.
On April 19, Akash had marched towards the newly opened liquor outlet holding a placard “ kudiyai vidu, padikka vidu ” (give up liquor, allow us to study) from his home and sat on the road near the Tasmac outlet. This outlet was relocated to the village from the Rajiv Gandhi Salai (Old Mahabalipuram Road) in view of the Supreme Court’s recent ban on liquor outlets along the Highways.
Earlier, women lodged their dissent in the form of peaceful agitations at Padur and also presented a memorandum to the district administration requesting it not to open the Tasmac outlet at a place close to the residential locality.
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When their pleas failed, they vented their anger by damaging the newly opened shop. An FIR was filed against more than 100 villagers in connection with the incident and a few of them were also arrested.
In their memorandum addressed to the Collector, Akash and 13 other pupils claimed that the very attempt to open a wine shop at their hamlet had disturbed the tranquillity in the area.
They urged the Collector to issue special directions to the authorities not to run the newly set-up shop and not open any new shop in Padur area for the benefit of children.
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To add strength to the youngsters’ demand, individual petitions from 1,300-odd adults protesting the opening of Tasmac outlet at Padur were also submitted to the Collector through Akash and his team.