Villagers from Damodaranpattinam in Tiruvadanai Taluk in the district submitted a memorandum to the District Collector seeking shifting of a TASMAC outlet in their locality on Monday.
The villagers were accompanied by CITU office-bearers led by M. Ayyappan.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Ayyappan said that about 1,200 people lived in the village. The TASMAC outlet which was functioning there had become a big nuisance to the people, especially the womenfolk, who used the village Oorani (tank) for bathing and washing clothes.
With the TASMAC shop open even beyond the stipulated time, the villagers found it tough to use the oorani. On many occasions, the youth had to accompany the womenfolk and during such time wordy altercations with the drunken crowd was a common occurrence.
Though the villagers had submitted petitions to the RDO and DSP at Tiruvadanai in the past, nothing tangible had been done in their favour. Hence, they approached the Collector.
Hundreds of people, who had come to the Collector’s office on Monday to submit petitions were a disappointed lot. According to M. Karunamoorthy of the CPI, when people thronged the Collecorate with a sign of hope to get a solution for their long standing problems, there was nobody to receive the petitions. Just two staff collected the petitions and sent the public away, he alleged.
Another group of people, after handing over ahe petition to the staff, said that when the Collector was unavailable, a senior official should be present to meet the public at the weekly grievance day meeting.
However, an officer in the Collector’s office said that due to the pandemic, there were certain restrictions in allowing the public. For all official purposes, only a third of the staff were present at the office, while others were given COVID-19 duty, he clarified.
Another officer said that the public can use the online option to submit their memorandum, which was being attended to by the officials concerned.
In the above case, the officer said that very soon, the TASMAC outlet would be relocated.