THANJAVUR: The members of 20 Dalits families of Naduvoor village near Orathanadu have been denied drinking water supply for over a year, as one of the families refused to give up their house for laying a road.
M Saravanan (31) of Naduvur Adi Dravidar Street, along with a group of people carrying empty water pots, submitted a petition to the officials at the Collectorate here on Monday during the grievance redress meeting, seeking restoration of the disrupted drinking water supply.
The petitioner in his petition said that he, Saravanan, a dalit and a driver by profession, was residing in a house in the village. Last year, he was approached by some men of the village sent by T Muthusamy, village president, stating that the latter wanted the land in which Saravanan’s house stood, for laying a road.
But Saravanan refused to demolish his house for the formation of road. Hence, the drinking water supply to the Dalit habitation in which Saravanan’s house stood was stopped on July 31, 2013.
The habitation was getting water through the same connection for the last 17 years, the petitioner contended. As the 20 families had to depend on borewell water from the fields and from the public tap in other streets, they were petitioning the authorities repeatedly to set right the issue, following which the authorities made enquiries.
Following this fallout, T Muthusamy on August 4 abused Saravanan in front of the village panchayat office, using his caste name, Saravanan alleged in the petition. The panchayat president also had allegedly threatened that water would not supplied to the dalit habitation unless Saravanan demolished the house and paved the way for laying a road.
“Apart from the abuse, the panchayat president also asked Vijayakumar, another dalit, to attack me,” Saravanan said. Following this, Vijayakumar attacked Saravanan with an iron rod, and he sustained injuries and was admitted to the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital, and later discharged.