Officials finally reached out to the volatile Kadiramangalam villagers in Thanjavur district, where a sit-in has been raging against the bureaucracy and ONGC for the past 407 days.
To meet the demands of the Kadiramangalam villagers, potable water supply would be extended soon to all areas, roads would be re-laid and other infrastructure facilities would be provided with the cooperation of the villagers, Agriculture Minister R. Doraikkannu said. He made the announcement during the opening of a high school in the village on Saturday.
Soliciting the cooperation of the villagers, District Collector A. Annadurai said the school could even be upgraded to higher secondary level and said the administration was ready to consider villagers’ demands for better facilities.
Mayiladuthurai MP R.K. Bharathi Mohan alleged that it was the DMK that brought in the ONGC with the assistance of former Union Minister Mani Shankar Ayyar of the Congress to the village and now those parties were looking to score political brownie points. Heavy police presence marked the event, just a kilometre from where some people have been staging a sit-in protest at the Ayyanar Koil complex demanding an end to all oil exploration activities of ONGC
Superintendent of Police T. Senthil Kumar was at hand to supervise the security arrangements.
Mr. Doraikkannu said the institution had come up at a cost of ₹1 crore and soon the school would be shifted to its own building from the rented shelter at present.