Plea to prevent construction of ‘untouchability wall’ in Sivaganga district

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the State to file a status report to a public interest litigation petition that complained about attempts being made to construct an ‘untouchability wall’ in Kalukerkadai village in Tiruppuvanam in Sivaganga district.

A Division Bench of Justices G. Jayachandran and K.K. Ramakrishnan was hearing the petition filed by P. Ganapathi Karthick of Kalukerkadai.

The petitioner said over 200 Adi Dravidar families were residing in the area for decades and at least 100 of these families were living without proper houses. They were compelled to live jointly in small houses due to the non-availability of alternative land.

Due to the natural topography of the land, rainwater was flowing through a land which was being claimed as a private property, and was draining into the common pond.

This land was adjacent to the village. With the intention of selling the land at a higher value, attempts were being made to construct a compound wall and segregate the village, he said.

He said though the attempt to raise the compound wall was stopped by the authorities, a concrete beam measuring about two feet in height and nearly 100 meters in length on the northern and the eastern sides of the houses had already been constructed before the intervention by the authorities.

The construction had obstructed the natural watercourse and the drainage flow from the village during the monsoon, resulting in water stagnation and causing severe hardship to the residents.

It would lead to flooding of the houses and posed a threat to the life and health of the people, he said.

The proposed construction of the compound wall was solely intended to segregate and exclude the Adi Dravidar community.

It amounted to a practice of neo-untouchability, he said and sought a direction to the authorities to prevent the construction of the compound wall.