Teacher goes on hunger strike at gram sabha meet

TIRUCHY: A teacher commenced an indefinite hunger strike during the grama sabha meeting on Wednesday against a panchayat president for not giving approval to her house construction plan.

The grama sabha meeting was scheduled across the district on Wednesday in view of World Water Day and one such meeting was also held in Guntoor near Tiruverumbur in Tiruchy which was presided over by BDO Sridhar.

All of a sudden, Kavitha (35), a teacher, working at Lakshmanapatti Panchayat Union Middle School came there with a handwritten banner against the Guntoor village panchayat president Lakshmi Thirumurugan. She condemned the panchayat president for preventing the plan approval for her house on a site that she bought at Ayaputhur village in the panchayat and sat on the floor declaring that she was on indefinite hunger strike.

Kavitha said that she had approached the Panchayat council in the month of January for construction of a house at the site she had bought. But, the panchayat president has been delaying to approve the plan citing a case of encroachment from a person. “There is no connection to my land and the particular disputed land, but unnecessarily, the president has been quoting the case. If the president needs money, she can directly demand it,” she said.

Soon BDO Sridhar held talks with Kavitha. Meanwhile, on information, Navalpattu police rushed to the spot and held talks with Kavitha. Upon assurance by the BDO, she left.