Officials to visit TN village where human feces found in water tank

CHENNAI: The Social monitoring committee of Tamil Nadu will on January 13 visit Vengavayil village in Pudukottai district where human feces were found dumped in a water tank supplying drinking water to a Dalit colony.

The team comprising Swaminathan Devadoss, G. Karunanidhi, R. Rajendran and Shanthi Raveendranath will hold discussions with the Pudukkottai district collector and Superintendent of Police.

After the people living in the SC colony complained to the health authorities, the matter was reported to the district administration. The district collector of Pudukkottai and District Superintendent of Police and other officers were shocked when they found that the issue was much deeper.

The village did not allow people from the Dalit community to pray in temples earmarked for the upper caste. The double tumbler system also existed in this village with Dalit people being given water and tea in separate tumblers in hotels. The district collector immediately took action and arrested a husband and wife duo who were running a restaurant where there was clear demarcation for the Dalit people.

To their disbelief, the village which has over 100 Dalit people found human feces in the water tank. People found that children were falling ill and when a doctor was consulted he informed them that there was contamination in the drinking water. When the water tank was inspected, it was found that a large quantity of human excreta was dropped in the water tank which was the reason behind the children falling ill.

The Tamil Nadu government had taken action and has constituted a Social monitoring committee to look into the issue plaguing the village.