TIRUPPUR: Social activists have raised allegations that members of a dominant community have blocked an easement near the house of a family belonging to the Arundhathiyar community over a dispute, in a village near Dharapuram of Tiruppur district. They further said that the person who erected the fence has not removed it despite the tahsildar’s order.
Sources said that R Ayyanar, a wage labourer, of Mulaiyampoondi Colony in Karuppan Valasu village in Dharapuram, lives with his wife A Saroja, a farm labourer, and their two sons.
Ayyanar’s house is located at the end of the street, and a concrete road leads from their house to the main road, adjacent to one M Saraswathi’s house. Although Ayyanar’s family has used this road for over two decades, it was closed six months ago, and the former have alleged that Saraswathi closed the road at the behest of some persons from the dominant community.
Ayyanar has been urging the authorities to take action to remove the fence.
Saroja said, "I worked as a scavenger in Karuppan Valasu village panchayat last year, and was paid Rs 6,000 per month. At the time, Selvi, who hails from a dominant community, was the vice-chairman of the panchayat, and her family got me the job. Once during work, she instructed me to go to work in her farmland. As I refused, she scolded me severely using casteist slurs and inappropriate words, and I stopped going to work there. Now, to exact revenge, she has erected the fence through Saraswathi.”
Ayyanar, in his complaint to the Dharapuram tahsildar, said, "Some ruling party functionaries in the panchayat administration are behind Saraswathi."
P Kalimuthu, district secretary of Adithamizhar Munnetra Kazhagam, said, "Selvi's son Sathish is the personal assistant of DMK district secretary L Padmanaban. This is the reason why government officials are not taking appropriate action in this matter. This is the reason why Saraswathi did not remove the encroachment on the public road despite the tahsildar's order."
Sathish said, "A false accusation is being leveled against us on this matter. This is an issue between those two families, and we have nothing to do with the road issue."
Dharapuram tahsildar V Thiraviyam, in his order dated June 18, sent to Saraswathi, stated, "The fence must be removed within seven days."
The tashildar told TNIE, "Appropriate action will be taken to remove the encroachment immediately."