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Wall on road to Dalit colony demolished
V.S. Palaniappan
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.
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