Villagers fume as VCK stops threshing floor work near Arakkonam
Though the VAO has certified that the site for the threshing floor was porombokke land, the VCK cadre refused to heed it and objected to carrying out the work
Police presence seen at the area where threshing floor was being prepared.
RANIPET: Residents of Ammanoor village in Arakkonam Panchayat Union are upset over the VCK cadre stopping repair of a threshing floor, which was a key need of farmers of the area, on Tuesday.
The village was sanctioned a threshing floor for Rs 10,000 under the Sampoorna Gram Rozgar Yojana in 2003-04.
But as the threshing floor over the years became dilapidated, it was abandoned and farmers used the bund of the neighbouring tank to thresh paddy on a tarpaulin, according to Ammanoor panchayat president G Gnanavel.
It was under these circumstances that the gram sabha passed resolutions demanding a new threshing floor some time ago. Honouring the gram sabha resolution, the Ranipet district administration issued work orders for the repair of the threshing floor at an estimate of Rs 9.10 lakh. The contract was given to K Anbumani under AGAMT II (Anaithu Grama Anna Marumalarachi Thittam) on July 25, 2023. However, the repair could not be started as the local VCK cadre claimed that the land, where the threshing floor was created, belonged to them and prevented the contractor from taking up the work.
“Though the VAO has certified that the site for the threshing floor was porombokke land, the VCK cadre refused to heed it and objected to carrying out the work,” Gnanavel said. Following this, villagers petitioned the Collector at the weekly grievance meeting on November 27, 2023.
When work started with police protection on Monday, a group of 10 VCK men, who reached the site, threatened to block the road if work was not stopped. “Though only six cadres made the threat, police and revenue officials quietly left after asking the workers to pack up,” an infuriated Gnanavel said.
“No official was even bothered to ask the VCK men to produce documentary evidence in support of their claim,” Gnanavel added.
“Though we all belong to the same community, farmers’ ire is on the rise in the village as they are the most affected due to the absence of a proper threshing floor,” said one of the affected farmers.
