Vandalisation of TN name boards on Karna border: Panel formed to survey location of such markings

PTI, Jan 20, 2021, 5:57 PM IST

Erode: Days after a fringe group from Karnataka damaged sign and name boards of Tamil Nadu, a committee has been formed by the district administration here to conduct a survey of such markings in areas bordering the neighbouring state and relocate them, if needed, to avert recurrence of such incidents.

District Collector C Kathiravan on Wednesday said the panel members would visit all border points with Karnataka in Thalavadi and Burgur areas in this western district and would take steps to relocate any sign or name board found placed within the territorial limits of the neighbouring state.

The committee, comprising officials of the Revenue and Highways department, would take steps to remove such boards and re-install them within Tamil Nadu’s limits, some meters away from the exact state border, he told reporters here.

It was set up on Tuesday to prevent such incidents, he said, referring to miscreants damaging the signboards of the Highways Department and the Erode District Panchayat council in Tamil and English in Binapuram area in Thalavadi taluk on Sunday.

The vandalisation came close on the heels of a similar incident on January 10 when a group led by Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader Vattal Nagaraj entered Ramapura locality, also in Thalavadi taluk, and allegedly dismantled and threw away name boards of district panchayat and highways department.

Such boards are kept in border areas to indicate the start of Tamil Nadu limits and the division or subdivision of the state highways the locality falls and also to either ‘welcome’ or ‘thank’ visiting people.

The back-to-back incidents, which came in the backdrop of a row between Maharashtra and Karnataka over some border areas where Marathi speaking people live, had sparked off outrage among people in Tamil Nadu with the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi giving a call for a protest.

The situation in the areas was now calm but police personnel continued to be posted there, police said on Wednesday.

The group from Karnataka that vandalized name boards on Sunday claimed that Thalavadi belonged to their state, echoing the stand of Nagaraj.