TIRUPPUR: The vice president of Perumanallur panchayat has demolished a portion of a Dalit man’s house in the village allegedly on the pretext of constructing a public toilet in the village in Tiruppur district.
K Chinnasamy (45) told TNIE said, “I am a daily wager and built a makeshift structure near my house in the Adi Dravidar colony last year. I use the building to cook and also tie my goats.”
“On July 20, panchayat vice president CTC Velusamy arrived on the spot and said that the site near my house will be put to official use. I told him that the site belonged to another SC family and asked him to produce the documents or permission. He did not produce anything but brought an earthmover and demolished the structure. He issued death threats and verbally abused my wife and me by using our caste name. The makeshift structure was just 300 sq feet and wasn’t used for commercial purposes,” he added.
Velusamy refuted the allegation and caste angle. He said, “The site has been vacant for several decades. We wanted to build either a public toilet or a structure for Illam Thedi Kalvi scheme. There is no caste issue in the case.” A police officer said, “During inquiries with revenue officials, we found out that the site belonged to Kannammal (50), who is also from the SC community.
She had given permission to Chinnasamy’s father to use the land and moved to Tiruppur city. Velusamy has got no right to demolish the structure. Besides, he didn’t give any show-cause notice to Chinnasamy. We will be taking action against him.”