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PMK wants action to end atrocities against Dalits

PUDUCHERRY: Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss on Sunday urged the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Government to take urgent action against those who had committed atrocities against the Dalits in Tamil Nadu.

Replying to queries on the National Human Rights Commission’s directive to the Chief Secretary to file a report, within four weeks, on the alleged atrocities against the Dalits in 60 village panchayats in Madurai district, he said discrimination against the Scheduled Castes was condemnable. The Government should curb such atrocities and take stringent action against those who were behind such inhuman acts.

He expressed anguish at the objection raised by the Bharatiya Janata Party and others to the Hogenakkal drinking water project. PMK workers had launched an agitation to condemn the opposition to the project. It was unfair on the part of some Karnataka leaders to rake up the issue, he said.

After releasing the shadow budget for Puducherry, he said the PMK would not join any coalition government in the event of some Ministers quitting the Cabinet. He expressed dismay at the recent infighting in the Congress-led Government. The Congress Government mainly relied on the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam for its survival, he said.

As for the PMK’s demand that the sale of liquor be restricted in Puducherry, he said the party had come up with suggestions to regulate the sale of Indian Made Foreign Liquor in Tamil Nadu, too. Such restrictions should be imposed in Puducherry. Liquor shops should not function on Sundays.

Dr. Ramadoss said the PMK had demanded that a coordination committee of the Congress and its allies be set up in Puducherry to help the Government take corrective steps. And such a committee comprising the constituents of the Democratic Progressive Alliance had not been formed in Tamil Nadu.

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