Varadarajan seeks judicial probe into Rettanai incident

VILLUPURAM: State secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) N. Varadarajan has urged the government to institute a judicial inquiry into the police action against Rettanai villagers.

Mr. Varadarajan led an agitation organised by the party here on Wednesday against the police excesses.

Over 1,000 party workers, including 400 women, participated.

Right wages

Later, he told reporters that the poor people were demanding only right wages for the works done under the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme. The police attacked them with lathis and also fired at them.

Similarly, the police attacked CITU leader Sukumaran and others when they were about to attend talks to resolve a wage dispute at a chemical unit in the Cuddalore SIPCOT Industrial Estate.

Mr. Varadarajan said staging agitations/demonstration was the democratic right of the working class. But, of late, the police had become intolerant to any form of democratic protest.

Voicing concern over “increasing number of police atrocities,” against peaceful demonstrators in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam rule, Mr. Varadarajan said the ruling party should not forget the fact that it would have to face the people.

Mr. Varadarajan called upon authorities concerned to ensure that the beneficiaries got 100-day work a year and also full wages as codified under the NREG Act.