DHARMAPURI: Preempting a possible protest in the collectorate by residents of A Jettihalli, Thadangam, Elakkiyampatti, and Sogathur opposing the merger of their panchayats with the Dharmapuri municipality, a huge posse of police was deployed at the collectorate premises on Monday. Further, officers brought five representatives from each panchayat in a police vehicle to submit a petition during the weekly grievances meeting and dropped them back home.
Hundreds from A Jettihalli, Thadangam, Elakkiyampatti, and Sogathur panchayats have been visiting the collectorate in the last few days to submit petitions registering their objection to being part of Dharmapuri Municipality. On Monday, police received a tip-off that a large gathering would be at the collectorate. As a precaution, over 70 police officers were deployed in front of the Collectorate.
Speaking to TNIE, R Adhimoolam, a resident of Thadangam said, “People have not accepted the merger with the municipality. It will cripple the livelihood of farmers and farm labourers.”
S Gowramma, from A Jettihalli, said, “The state government never asked us if we want to be part of the municipality. They just passed a GO and we are opposing it. Seeing the large number of police personnel gathering makes us feel like criminals,” she said.
When TNIE spoke to police officials stationed in the collectorate they said, “It is merely a precaution. If more than a hundred people gather, it would affect traffic flow and disrupt the proceedings of the grievance day meeting. Usually, only five people are allowed to represent the people because of limited space in the collectorate.”
In A Jettihalli, the residents staged a protest outside the panchayat office condemning the merger.