1. Temple entry row | Revenue officials seal Villupuram temple
In view of an ongoing dispute over temple entry, revenue officials of Villupuram district sealed the Dharmaraja Droupadi Amman temple at Melpathi village as a measure to prevent any law and order problem.
The caste Hindus continued to bar the entry of Adi Dravidars into the temple controlled by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department despite several rounds of peace talks. A huge posse of police personnel were deployed at the village.
2. Monitoring committee inspects Sterlite plant for gypsum removal
The nine-member local management committee headed by the Sub-Collector, Thoothukudi, that was formed by Thoothukudi District Collector last week, inspected the premises of Sterlite Copper in order to remove the gypsum lying in the copper smelter plant.
After the copper plant was sealed in 2018, the district administration removed 14 materials including sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, liquid nitrogen. However, 1.25 lakh tonnes of gypsum still remains on the premises.
3. Employee issues at Aavin | Anbumani slams, Minister denies allegations of child labour
PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss urged the State government to drop the practice of hiring contract staff for various departments, and in public sector undertakings.
In a statement, he cited to reports of Aavin contract staff protesting in front of the Aavin dairy in Ambattur over a delay in the payment of salaries, and also alleged the employment of child labour. He alleged that the State government does not check whether contract staff are paid salaries on time and does not look into their physical and mental health. There is no accountability in the contract labour system, and its flaws have been brought out by the Aavin episode, he contended.
Meanwhile, addressing journalists at Chennai later in the day, Minister for Milk and Dairy Development Mano Thangaraj categorically denied the allegation that child labourers were employed in Aavin’s Madhavaram dairy.
