VELLORE: The game of one-upmanship between the Dravidian majors was on full display on Monday at Anaicut.
Around 3,000 persons turned up for the demonstration against illegal mining and non-provision of medical facilities for tribal people in the Anaicut area. Though KP Munusamy, deputy general secretary of the AIADMK led the protests, he failed to name the DMK partymen involved in the illegal mining. This miffed the participants.
Moreover, Munusamy said that DMK functionaries were illegally removing alluvial soil (murambu mann) from all available sources while the revenue department turned a blind eye to the goings on. Cadre wondered why he refused to name DMK functionaries. Eyebrows were raised when he referred to DMK general secretary Duraimurugan as “annan” (both belong to the Vanniyar community).
Meanwhile, the DMK, which already had plastered the town with posters deriding the AIADMK protest, went one-step higher when they released sizeable advertisements in vernacular media with details of the various works undertaken in the area for locals and tribal people.
Starting at the top stating that zero works were carried out in the area during the 10-year AIADMK regime, the advertisement, included details about the number of health sub centres opened in tribal areas, doctors posted, buildings constructed and roads laid before finally thanking local MLA AP Nandakumar.
This game of one-upmanship led a big group of villagers from Karadikudi – the main village affected by illegal mining – turning up at the Vellore Collector’s office on Monday to hand over a petition demanding that stone quarries in their area be closed.
A partyman seeking anonymity said, “Illegal stone quarries are the bane of the area as houses develop cracks due to the noise of loud explosions to break stone, which also affects agriculture. Also, more than the stipulated amount of quarried material was moved out while only a limited amount was recorded.”