Marking the 63rd death anniversary of freedom fighter and Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran, leaders from various political parties paid tribute at his memorial on Friday.
On the occasion, Sekaran’s family appealed to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to ensure that the memorial day is observed by the government. The government should observe this ceremony, which would be a fitting tribute to Sekaran, E. Sundari Praba Rani, a family member, told journalists. The restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic could have been lifted as a special case, which would have enabled Sekaran’s supporters to visit the memorial, she added.
As per the timings earmarked by the district administration, leaders from each political party arrived and paid tribute to the leader.
According to the police, Revenue Minister R. B. Udayakumar and Adi-Dravidar Welfare Minister V. M. Rajalakshmi, former minister and DMK leader Tamilarasi, former MP Bhavani Rajendran, Ramanathapuram MP K. Nawaz Kani, MLAs from the Congress, AIADMK, DMK and various political parties and others paid tribute.
When contacted, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Ramanathapuram Range) N. M. Mylvahanan said that since morning, members of the public, who obtained permission from the district administration have been paying tribute at the memorial. At least 75 vehicles had passed the check posts. There had been no untoward incidents. The police have been deployed at all vantage locations, he added.
The use of five hi-tech foldable micro drones weighing 900 grams each for surveillance and crowd management has been very useful, police officers in Paramakudi said. “Though there has not been much of a crowd due to the restrictions imposed and the lockdown, the drones designed and developed by Anna University have been working with precision. Trained by the Centre for Aerospace Research, a team from the university, about 10 TN Commando Police personnel from Chennai have been monitoring the operations from a specially-installed control room here,” said K. Senthil Kumar, Director Department of Aerospace Engineering, Anna University.
Ramanathapuram District Collector K .Veera Raghava Rao told The Hindu that the event has been going on smoothly and peacefully. Elaborate arrangements have been made for the visitors to reach the memorial from other districts. Only those who had obtained permission were allowed to come in their registered vehicles. There were about nine executive magistrates and another 40 sector magistrates monitoring the movement jointly with the presence of 3,960 police personnel. Fire tenders and emergency ambulance services were also positioned, the Collector added.