Village panchayat president submits resignation to Tenkasi Collector condemning ‘official apathy’

Frustrated over alleged official apathy in issuing community certificate to Kaattunayakkan community children and retrieving ‘panchami lands’, a village panchayat president submitted his resignation to District Collector Ranjeet Singh during the weekly grievances redress meeting held at the Collectorate on Monday.

The aggrieved president of Kodikurichi village panchayat under Kadayanallur panchayat union, Dhakshinamurthy. This person secured elevated to this post after the demise of the then president Udayar in 2023, said no solution could be identified for the villagers’ prolonged struggle for community certificate for Kaattunayakkan community people, retrieval of ‘panchami lands’ and a few more infrastructure matters due to official apathy.

According to him, the children of Kaattunayakkar community could not pursue higher education as community certificate to these children was being denied. Moreover, 84 cents of ‘panchami land’ had been illegally given patta in favour of an individual and which could not be retrieved.

“Pressing these demands and the infrastructure issues, I staged a dharna at Sivaramanpettai last week along with the public. However, the office-holders are not even prepared to listen to our demands. Since I cannot find solutions for the people’s genuine grievances, I’ve submitted my resignation to the Collector and decided to approach the court in search of legal remedy,” stated Mr. Dhakshinamurthy.

However, he was pacified with the assurance that his demands would be immediately looked into.

Demanding the closure of the garbage yard near their colony, a group of residents from Boganallur Sri Lankan Tamils Rehabilitation Camp submitted a petition to the Collector.

They stated the garbage being collected in Tenkasi and Kadayanallur municipalities were being dumped near Boganallur camp and it polluted the environment and groundwater.

Hence, the Collector should order closure of this garbage yard and shift it to some other isolated area, they said.