THOOTHUKUDI: People of five villages in Ettaiyapuram taluk in Thoothukudi district registered their protest against the indifference of the district administration towards their complaints of illegal gravel sand mining in their region by hoisting black flags on Independence Day on Thursday.
Frustrated by the official apathy towards their repeated complaints of illegal gravel sand mining rampant in the villages of Keelanattukuruchi, Kansapuram, Naduvapatti, Thalaikattupuram and Ramanoothu in the taluk, the villagers hoisted black flags at the entrance of their respective villages.
The protest, though said to have been instigated by some local cadres of the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) to urge people to boycott the I-Day celebrations, was at best partial. For children in those villages happily participated in the I-Day celebrations in the local schools.
“We resorted to this means of protest as we have no other way to attract the attention of the district administration against the illegal mining of gravel sand,” reasoned the villagers.
Around 200 truckloads of gravel sand are alleged to be illegally mined in the region every day.
Flag hoisted upside down on Temple tower:
The national flag hoisted on top of the Raja Gopuram (main tower) of the Sankara Narayanan temple at Sankarankoil on Independence Day however, created a flutter as it was hoisted upside down.
However, noticing the mistake the temple officials immediately set it right.
