TIRUPUR: Women from Kandiyankoil village in Pongalur barged into the weekly grievance redress meeting held at the collectorate on Monday, seeking stern action against a five-member team -- claiming to be the workers of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited -- for conducting an illegal survey using camera-equipped drone and invading the privacy of the village women on October 14.
In a petition submitted to the collector, the women claimed that the drone may have captured images and videos of the residential locations. Saying that most toilets in the village are not thatched, they alleged that the drone flew above their open-roof toilets, giving credence to speculation that images of women bathing, washing or drying clothes were captured.
"We seek stern action against them, as the two-and-a-half-hour survey was conducted without our permission," they mentioned in the petition.
Dr Vijay Karthikeyan, upon receiving the petition, said he would check the footage and submit a copy to the residents as well. He added that stern action would be taken against those five persons, if anything, as mentioned in the petition, was found.
Workers claiming to be from BPCL were caught during an attempt to surveying land near Azhagumalai and Kulathupalayam using a drone. The police had let them off with a warning. It was only after Monday that the police started receiving complaints from many women seeking action against the five persons for invading their privacy.