Urban News

The Hindu 31.01.2010

Wall on road to Dalit colony demolished

V.S. Palaniappan

— Photo: K. Ananthan

ELIMINATING DISCRIMINATION: The wall blocking the road to a Dalit colony at Periyar Nagar in Coimbatore being demolished.

COIMBATORE: Revenue, police and the Coimbatore Corporation authorities demolished a wall that had denied 58 Dalit families of Periyar Nagar direct access to the arterial Kamarajar Road in the city.

The wall was allegedly built by caste Hindus across the 30-ft-wide Jeeva Road that was supposed to link the colony with Kamarajar Road.

The colony is located in Ward No.10 near the Employees’ State Insurance Hospital to Kamarajar Road.

“The wall, built in 1990, was evidence of the prevalence of discrimination and untouchability,” said U.K. Sivagnanam, district convenor of the Untouchability Eradication Front. He had petitioned the authorities on Friday, demanding the removal of the wall. According to Periyar Nagar residents, the government acquired land for their colony in 1989 and provided house site pattas to them. Caste Hindus living along the initial stretch of Jeeva Road had installed a Vinayakar idol in a small shed and built the wall behind it, exactly from where the colony began.The temple was used as a pretext for closing the road with a discriminatory attitude to prevent the Dalits from using Jeeva Road to reach Kamarajar Road through the area in which the caste Hindus resided, Mr. Sivagnanam alleged. The Dalits had used other routes to reach the main road for many years. But with more buildings coming up on open sites nearby, they were left with only a narrow street to reach the main road.

On Saturday morning, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi ordered the district administration to inquire into the issue and take immediate action.

Officials verified the records and confirmed that the temple and the wall encroached upon a scheme road. A group of women squatted in front of the earthmover in an attempt to prevent the demolition. As the earthmover began the demolition, the residents broke into a thunderous ovation. When the Corporation workers were removing the debris of the demolished wall, a group of Hindu outfit activists insisted that the temple should not be removed. This resulted in police mobilising more reinforcements.

‘Not against temple’

The Dalits pointed out that they were not against the temple but only its location. Speaking to TheHindu, State convener of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front P. Sampath welcomed the action taken by the officials and added that the temple could be relocated with the consent of both sides.

The Hindu 12.01.2010

Encroachment removed to restore road link

Staff Reporter

Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

OPERATION CLEAN UP: An encroachment on a revenue land in Valluvar Street of Tatabad being removed by Coimbatore Corporation. –

Coimbatore: Ending a long drawn battle, the demolition squad of the Coimbatore Corporation and revenue authorities on Thursday removed an encroachment on a revenue land on Valluvar Street in Tatabad.

According to authorities, a tiled roof structure was encroaching upon a revenue land measuring 300 ft width and 300 ft length. This led to the disconnection of a link between two roads. Even as the authorities tried to remove the encroachment, the alleged encroacher, who had applied for a patta, resisted it by creating legal hurdles, officials said. The last attempt to remove the encroachment had gone in vain because of a stay order obtained by the encroacher from a court.

On Monday, when officials reached the scene with the demolition team of the Corporation, the official machinery faced resistance and a lawyer entered the scene. The officials were told not to remove the structure till the issue of patta and legal dispute was resolved.

At one stage, the officials preferred a complaint against the lawyer stating that he was preventing them from discharging their duty. The police removed the advocate and after removing the belongings of the encroacher who was said to be an ex-serviceman the official team began the demolition work.