VELLORE: The Arunthathi Makkal Katchi has demanded the State government to pay a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the family members of Sasi Perumal who died suddenly on Friday.
In a statement, founder president of the party Valasai Ravichandran said that Sasi Perumal has been agitating against the liquor menace in the State in a democratic way for the past 30 years and his sudden death during yet another agitation on Friday has come as a big shock to the people of this State.
Ravichandaran questioned why the police and the revenue administration had not prevented Sasi Perumal from climbing up the cell-tower as part of the agitation against closure of a liquor shop in Marthandam.
Describing the death of Sasi Perumal as a great loss to the State, Ravichandaran said that the State government should extend a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to his family and grant government jobs to the members of his family.
Social activist R Chandrasekaran while condoling the death of the anti-liquor agitator Sasi Perumal, said that the government should provide pension to his widow for the untiring agitation against liquor he had put up for the past 30 years. In fact the government should offer pension of Rs 5,000 per month to thousands of widows of liquor victims across the State since these women have lost their breadwinners while the State government continues to earn profit from the TASMAC outlets.
Chandrasekaran has also appealed to the activists and others who have been relentlessly agitating against the liquor menace not to emulate Sasi Perumal and end their lives. By losing one’s life, the very purpose of agitation was losing its strength. The life of activists are precious and they should mould the next generation of agitators to follow them without ending their life, he said.