CHENNAI: Villagers turned up wearing black shirts and carrying black flags in protest of their pending demands while attending the Gram Sabha meetings held on the occasion of Republic Day at Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts.
In Kancheepuram's Kunnavakkam Panchayat, the residents of Nachupet village arrived carrying black flags, demanding proper road infrastructure. The village, which has 100 households, has only a mud road that becomes unusable on rainy days, making it a task to venture out and buy basic necessities for children or reach schools, according to Nachupet residents. They also claimed that repeated petitions to the District Collector's office, block development officials, and the Uthiramerur Tahsildar have yielded no action.
The protesters, mostly women, claimed they had already submitted petitions in earlier Gram Sabha meetings, but there was no action. The Panchayat officials replied that the roads fall under administration, to which the women said they had also approached the District Collector's office to no avail.
The villagers then walked out of the meeting, staged a roadblock on Kunnavakkam road and announced they would submit petitions again at the district grievance redressal meeting. However, they warned they would return voter ID, Aadhaar and ration cards and boycott the upcoming elections if no action was taken.
Meanwhile, in Chengalpattu district, a separate protest took place during the Gram Sabha meeting at Keerapakkam Panchayat.
Around 50 youngsters wearing black shirts attended the meeting and objected to a proposed shooting training centre planned on a ground in their village. They said the land has been used as a sports ground by locals for nearly 20 years. However, without consulting the public, a foundation ceremony for the shooting training facility was conducted at the site by the District Collector on December 31.
The youths argued that setting up a shooting training centre in the residential area could pose risks to villagers. They demanded that the facility be relocated elsewhere and that the ground continue to be used as a sports field. They also urged that their objection be formally discussed and recorded in the Gram Sabha proceedings.
Panchayat authorities assured them that their opposition would be included in the meeting resolutions, after which the youths participated in the meeting.