Pudukottai: Tamil writer and social activist Durai Guna has been arrested for allegedly belittling top government officials by pasting posters saying there were vacancies for their posts which could be filled with people with “common sense and discipline,” police said on Tuesday.
The writer resorted to this step to draw the attention of the district administration to the alleged disappearance of an irrigation pond in Karambakudi that has been encroached upon over the past several years, they said.
The posters claimed the positions held by the district collector, district revenue officer, revenue divisional officer, Tahsildar, and village administration officer in the district were vacant and that they could be filled with people with ‘common sense, self-respect and discipline.’ Despite several representations made to the authorities to remove the encroachments, action was not taken.
According to the posters, a case had also been filed and the court had also given guidelines to vacate encroachers from the water body. Yet, nothing worked as the officials remained mute spectators. The posters requested intelligence officials to trace the pond which had disappeared owing to squatters.
After noticing the posters, some members of the public began making phone calls to the RDO Dhandayuthapani and Tahsildar Wilson Moses prompting them to visit the spot and initiate action. Meanwhile, police, acting on a complaint from VAO Jasmin Begum, arrested the writer on charges of defaming the district administration.