Dalit bodies demand demolition of water tank contaminated with human waste

Tamil Nadu— The issue of dumping human waste in the water tank of Dalits last month, continues to rankle the community at Vengaivayal village in Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu. The inmates boycotted the pongal celebrations  and also hoisted black flags atop their homes to protest the police failure to arrest the accused who had polluted their water tank last December. Shockingly, instead of nabbing the real culprits, the police had arrested people from Dalit community itself for the crime. It may be remembered that Tamil Nadu is the home of Periyar movement, a campaign pioneered by the great leader EV Ramasamy, fondly called 'Periyar' who launched it as a Self-respect Movement that aimed at generating pride in lower castes.

Authorities need to be sensitive & vigilant

Reacting to the incident Gujarat Legislative Assembly MLA Jignesh Mevani said “This is a very shocking incident and proves that the caste system survives in our country irrespective of any government ruling the state. I demand the Tamil Nadu government to investigate the case honestly if they really value the ideology of EVS Ramaswami Naicker Periyar, the victims should not be harassed on the pretext of enquiry".  He further suggested that authorities in the concerning area including the district magistrate and superintendent of police should go for spot inspection as per the provision of the Atrocities act. They need to be more vigilant in prevention of such incidents as the name of the act itself “ Prevention of Atrocities Act”. 

Pol parties join hands to condemn act

Meanwhile, various political parties joined hands in condemning the incident and demanded the demolition of the overhead which was polluted with human excrement. Thol Thiruvalaman, a Member of Parliament from Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) demanded in a social media post that the system of separate overhead water tanks should be renounced. Equating the separate overhead water tank to two-tumbler system he said that if dual tumblers cannot be used for supplying tea and drinking water to people from Scheduled caste communities, the practice of separate water tanks for Scheduled caste and Dalit colonies must also be stopped.

Tank symbol of untouchability

Echoing the demand Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), strongly supported the tank demolition and said that  it has become a symbol of untouchability. The youth wing of the CPI(M)  will also launch a campaign on January 21 for the demolition. 

The case

Residents of Vengaivayal village in the Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu were shocked on December 24 when they found that the water tank which supplied them potable water was polluted with human waste. The village was visited upon by District Magistrate Kavitha Ramu. Upon her visit she also came across another abominable practice of using separate tumblers for Dalits in a tea shop in the neighbouring village. When the collector learnt about the practice she ordered the arrest of the owner couple. In the latest development in this matter. The case has been transferred to CB-CID.