A day after a panchayat secretary and a ward member attached to the Therku Thittai panchayat in Mel Bhuvanagiri block were arrested after it came to light that Rajeshwari Saravana Kumar, the panchayat president, was forced to sit on the floor during meetings, the district administration has directed all block development officers (BDOs) to identify panchayats having caste issues or other forms of dispute.
Collector Chandra Sekhar Sakhamuri said that BDOs of all 14 blocks in the district had been asked to prepare a list of such panchayats. If required, the administration would install closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) in such panchayats to monitor the meetings, he said.
The administration would soon be organising a training programme for panchayat presidents and ward members, in all the 683 village panchayats in the district, to prevent such incidents, he said. Special resource persons and officials from the administration would conduct the training, he added. The police have formed a special team to nab the panchayat vice-president, Mohan Raj, who is at large.
DMK president M.K. Stalin on Sunday strongly condemned the incident of the Dalit panchayat president, Ms. Rajeshwari, being forced to sit on the floor during panchayat meetings.
Stalin slams incident
“The image of a representative elected by the people, through a democratic process, being made to sit on the floor is a shame for those involved in public life. All those guilty must be punished,” he said in a statement. Mr. Stalin said the incident was an insult to the Tamil soil, known for social justice, and urged the ruling AIADMK government to ensure that such incidents do not happen again.
He said his party would support and was firm on the participation of members from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in leadership roles.
