Cadres of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), volunteers of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front and residents of Uthapuram were injured when the police used force to remove protesters who laid siege to the Collectorate here on Monday.
Among the injured were State president of the front P. Sampath and its general secretary K. Samuel Raj and rural district secretary of the All India Democratic Women's Association S.K. Ponnuthai, party sources said.
Over 370 agitators, led by the party's Rajya Sabha MP T.K. Rangarajan, were arrested by the city police after they continued with their agitation as “the Collector refused to fix a timeframe to settle untouchability issues at Uthapuram.”The arrested cadre went on a hunger strike on the Tamukkam ground where they were lodged. They refused food offered by the police.
The protest was organised to urge the district administration to give Dalits the right to worship at a temple in Uthapuram; allow them to use a common pathway and permit construction of a bus shelter for the benefit of the oppressed class under the MPs' Local Area Development Fund.
After staging a demonstration in front of the Collectorate, a delegation led by Mr. Rangarajan, including party MLAs N. Nanmaran and S.K. Mahendran, represented their demands. The Collector promised to look into the demand of ensuring use of the common pathway by the Dalits. “But he said the other two demands could be considered only after inspecting the village,” Mr. Rangarajan told. “It is now three years since the ‘untouchability' wall was demolished on the intervention of the Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi. The district has seen four Collectors since then. The Chief Minister promised to make Uthapuram an ideal place. But things have only got worse there,” he added.
As the talks before the Collector failed,the demonstrators raised slogans condemning the Govt of TN and District Administration who are in collusion with the upper caste people in denying the basic rights to dalit people of uthapuram and also demanding basic rights to the people of Uthapuram. The Police all of a sudden started lathicharging the demonstrators and the leader are dragged in the street and handled roughly by the police.Nearly 40 persons severely injured and they were admitted in the Govt.Hospital.
Stating that Rs. 3.75 lakh of the local area development fund he had allotted for construction of the bus shelter in the village remained unutilised, Mr. Rangarajan said that the officials feared a law and order problem on construction of the shelter. “It is the duty of the officials to take action against those who create problems,” he said.
(Photos : Lenin, Theekathir)
This photos
ReplyDeleteare taken by s.lenin (theekkathir , Madurai )