The Hindu : A loud and clear poll boycott call

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

A loud and clear poll boycott call

By S. Dorairaj

MADURAI, MARCH 22. Close on the heels of the announcement of the poll schedule come boycott calls from people belonging to different areas to highlight their pressing problems.

Though some residents of Velliakunrampudur near here thronged the Collectorate complex and staged a silent demonstration today, their message was loud and clear. Carefully avoiding slogan-shouting, they raised their hands as a mark of resentment over the alleged `lack of action' on the part of the administration to ensure bus service to the village, which has a population of around 800. The demand has been remaining unfulfilled for the past 25 years, they say.

They also submitted a memorandum to the Collector calling for immediate action on their only demand. A total of 150 residents including students were signatories to the memorandum.

According to them, the village is 3 km away from Kancharampettai on the Madurai-Natham road and from Appanthiruppathi on the Madurai-Alagarkoil road. The villagers, including a large number of construction workers and labourers, have to trek all the way to reach the main road to take a bus to nearby towns seeking jobs. The 100-odd students studying in schools at Kancharampettai and Chattirapatti and colleges in Madurai also have to undergo the suffering. Worse is the case of the students, particularly the girls, who return to the village in late hours after attending evening classes. The travails of the sick, pregnant women and the aged persons, who have to move over to the Temple City for treatment, are inexplicable, they point out.

Their relatives, friends and guests seldom visit the villagers in view of the transport problem. "It may sound odd but nevertheless it is true that many youngsters— both men and women — remain unmarried for long, as people from other places are reluctant to have alliances owing to lack of bus service," they claim.

Though the demand for bus service has been revived by the villagers through memoranda every now and then without resorting to agitations such as road-roko during the past 25 years, no concrete step has been taken by the officials and politicians, they say. The villagers have not failed in highlighting their plight during election time as well. Strangely, some politicians, who have promised to take steps to provide bus service to Velliakunrampudur, have never bothered to visit the village again, the villagers allege.

"With a view to registering our protest against the Government's inaction to provide bus service to our village for the past quarter century, we have decided to boycott the Lok Sabha poll slated for May 10. No politician should enter our village and there is no room for poll publicity either," they have pointed out in the memorandum.

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