KRISHNAGIRI: Revenue officials have started conducting awareness programmes in tribal regions in Krishnagiri district against caste discrimination. The action follows a TNIE report on November 12 about an SC woman having been barred from cooking at an anganwadi centre at Gesthur village in Manjukondapalli panchayat.
The report said Tamil Nadu Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TNCPCR) member V Ramaraj and his team had found that S Ramya, a Scheduled Caste (SC) worker at the anganwadi mini centre in Gesthur village, was barred from cooking by caste Hindus since her appointment in 2018. Following this, Collector V Jaya Chandra Bhanu Reddy convened a meeting with anganwadi officials and directed them to identify such issues in the district. The next day, a team headed by Anchetti Tahsildar Murugesan visited Gesthur to investigate the issue. The team reportedly found S Ramya cooking food and serving it to Anganwadi children, and shared the pictures of it with the district administration.
When contacted, Tahsildar Murugesan said the collector had asked him to visit the village and send a report. He refused to speak further. A revenue inspector, who visited the village, said Ramya prepared food and served it to children. However, he said he didn’t know whether the food was prepared from an Anganwadi centre that was functioning in a caste Hindu’s house or from her house. Sarla, Thalli Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) of ICDS, said the ICDS officials would again visit Gesthur this week to follow up with the matter. The Collector said officials had visited the village and the food prepared by Ramya was served to children. The district administration was conducting an awareness programme in the area, he added.