Plea to stop construction of electric crematorium on banks of Tamirabharani

The Tamirabharani Paathukaappu Iyakkam has appealed to Collector Anand Mohan to stop the proposal to construct an electric crematorium on the flood-prone banks of Tamirabharani River at Mukkoodal in the district.

The petition submitted on Monday said the Mukkoodal Town Panchayat was establishing an electric crematorium on the bank of the Tamirabharani, a flood-prone area. Moreover, it was located close to a busy road. If a huge sum of money was spent for creating the electric crematorium, it would certainly be washed away by floods and cause a huge loss to the government. Hence, the panchayat should be instructed to shift the fcaility to a safe and accessible spot.

A group of residents from Ambedkar Nagar in Kalakkad Municipality submitted a petition seeking proper concrete or paver block road in their area. They said the Tamil Nadu Government had given free house sites to 100 families living in Ambedkar Nagar. Since the residential area lacked proper road connectivity, the Collector should instruct the municipality to lay a proper road to Ambedkar Nagar.

Another petition demanded prompt payment of employees provident fund contribution deducted from the wages of Tirunelveli Corporation’s temporary sanitary workers. The petitioners said the private firm carrying out sanitary operations in Tirunelveli Corporation was refusing to pay the PF contribution since 2023 even after deducting the amount from the sanitary workers’ wages. Hence, the Collector should warn the company to pay the dues immediately.

They also demanded the minimum wages of ₹750 a day for sanitary workers.

A petition was submitted seeking removal of temporary shops in Jawahar Ground in Palayamkottai to facilitate the conduct of Dasara celebrations. The petition said the cars of 12 temples in Palayamkottai would be assembled at Jawahar Ground as part of the celebrations every year. Since the Corporation created shops in the ground for temporarily relocating the traders of nearby Gandhi Market during its reconstruction, the religious ritual could not be conducted at the spot for the past few years.

Since the traders had moved back to the renovated Gandhi Market, the temporary shops on Jawahar Ground should be removed to enable the Dasara celebrations, the petition said.

When Bhukari, 70, of Natarajapuram in Melapalayam entered the meeting hall to submit the petition, he suddenly swooned and was rushed to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital in an ambulance.

His wife Ali Fathu said her husband borrowed ₹3 lakh from a moneylender and repaid the loan with interest. “However, the moneylender forcibly evicted us from our house after taking the property document from us. Even though we filed a complaint with the Melapalayam police, no action has been taken, which has badly affected my husband.”