THOOTHUKUDI: Claiming that the former head of Pathirakaliamman temple in Mapilaiyoorani was practising witchcraft near the temple and that a police inspector demanded Rs 2 lakh as a bribe to settle a temple administration dispute, a group of women petitioned district collector Dr K Senthil Raj during the grievance redressal meeting on Monday.
The women, who addressed themselves as temple taxpayers of the Hindu Nadar Uravinmurai's Pathirakaliamman temple, said owing to the misappropriation of temple funds, the villagers had replaced Ramamurthy Nadar with Pethu Pal Murugan as the temple head. A case pertaining to alleged irregularities during his administration is also pending in the civil court.
"In this situation, a faction led by Ramamurthy Nadar, former temple dharmakartha Periyasamy Nadar and others, is burying lemons, mud pots and plates at midnight to invite evil spirits to the temple premises and ensure a victory for their faction in the court. All temple devotees are in a panic due to this," the petition read.
When the women approached Thalamuthunagar police inspector Manimaran with this issue, he allegedly sought `2 lakh as a bribe to settle the issue. "When we refused to pay the bribe, he verbally abused us using obscenities. We also lodged a complaint with the superintendent of police regarding this, but no action was taken. So, to ensure peace and order in our village and to protect us from the inspector, we demand the collector's intervention into the matter," they added.
Ambedkar memorial park
VCK south district secretary Murasu Tamilappan submitted a petition to the district collector seeking steps to install a statue of BR Ambedkar at the Ambedkar memorial park in Tiruchendur. The demand has been pending for over four decades.
The VCK functionary also condemned Keezha Tiruchendur revenue village authorities for not documenting the spot as Ambedkar memorial park since the park's inception in 1962. The local body authorities, who removed the park's foundation plaque in 2007 on the pretext of renovating the park premises, have not yet placed it back, he said while urging for its reinstation.
Another petition submitted on the day pertained to traders not being able to withdraw their deposits from the Kurumbur primary agriculture cooperative credit society. Members of Kurumbur Anaithu Viyabarigal Sangam said the traders in Angamangalam panchayat used to regularly deposit a sum of money collected from each shop to the credit society.
"However, since the misappropriation of several crores of rupees at the society came to light many months ago, all the savings and deposit accounts have been frozen. So, traders are not able to withdraw their funds and this has affected their businesses. We had submitted a petition about this six months ago, but no action ensued. The district administration should take steps to release our deposits," said Sangam secretary Radhakrishnan.