Chennai, Aug 17 (IANS) More than 60 women staged a protest outside Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s MLA office in Perambur here on Monday, demanding immediate action to improve sewage facilities and other basic infrastructure in Kodungaiyur.
Vijay represents the Perambur Assembly constituency, and his constituency office is located on First Street in Sharma Nagar, Vyasarpadi.
The office was established to receive and address grievances from residents across the constituency. The government had also introduced a dedicated mobile application to enable residents to submit complaints directly to the Chief Minister’s constituency office at any time. Special computers have been installed at the office, where a team of 10 employees reportedly processes public grievances every day.
Despite the grievance-redressal mechanism, residents of Vedanta Murugappa Street in Kodungaiyur alleged that repeated complaints about sewage overflowing onto the road had failed to produce any result. They said the locality continued to suffer from poor sanitation and a lack of essential civic facilities, creating serious hardship for families.
The women gathered outside the office and laid siege to the premises, demanding that the authorities immediately repair the underground drainage system and stop sewage from flowing through the street.
Protesters alleged that officials had responded indifferently to their complaints, citing a pending court case as the reason for their inability to undertake infrastructure work in the area. They questioned why basic sanitation and public health measures could not be provided while the legal dispute remained unresolved.
They also recalled that the TVK had promised to address long-pending civic problems if voted to power.
However, despite submitting a petition at the Perambur MLA office after the government assumed office, no effective action had been taken, they alleged.
The protest led to tense moments as TVK functionaries and police officers arrived at the spot to hold discussions with the women. The protesters confronted them with several questions about the delay in addressing the sewage problem and demanded a clear timeline for remedial work. TVK representatives eventually assured the residents that immediate steps would be taken to provide the required civic facilities and resolve the sanitation problem. The women withdrew their protest following the assurance. Police personnel remained deployed around the MLA office until the crowd dispersed and normalcy returned to the area.
–IANS
aal/vd