Will boycott elections if VAO office does not come up in Kalathimadam, Minister told

TENKASI:  Demanding a separate village administrative office in Kalathimadam village, District Panchayat President S Tamil Selvi and Alangulam Union Council Chairman Divya Manikandan petitioned revenue minister KKSSR Ramachandran on Saturday. "The Kuthapanchan revenue village has a population of nearly 10,000 people in 15 hamlets.

Kalathimadam, Anaiyappapuram, Parumbu Nagar, Kurinchi Nagar and Nehru Nagar areas have around 6,000 residents in five hamlets. Due to lack of bus facility, villagers here have to walk five to eight kms or take an autorickshaw to reach the VAO office located in Kuthapanchan. Elderly people and widows have to struggle to avail the government benefits they are entitled to. We had already petitioned Assembly Speaker M Appavu, Alangulam tahsildar and the then district collector on the issue," read the petition.

The petitioners also included DMK district Secretary P Sivapadmanathan, Kuthapanchan panchayat President Jayarani, Union councillor Pasupathidevi and union Chairman of agricultural technology management agency A Dravidamani.  "We are raising the demand for the last 40 years. If a separate VAO office is not set-up, villagers will boycott the future election," said Pasupathidevi. The revenue minister, who was in Alangulam for a party-meeting, asked his personal assistant to forward the petition to officers concerned at the earliest.