A woman and her mother were allegedly threatened by the workers of the Greater Chennai Corporation on Sunday for registering a complaint on the civic body’s ‘Namma Chennai’ mobile application.
Dr Preethi Ramadoss, a PhD scholar widely recognised for her initiative to create plastic-free biodegradable sanitary napkins, took to Twitter to highlight the harassment her family faced. The resident of Mugalivakkam in Chennai said a group of ten workers, allegedly belonging to the Greater Chennai Corporation, visited her mother’s house on Sunday morning and threatened the two against filing any complaint online.
@chennaicorp officials in blue uniform came as a big gang of ten to our house this morning threatening us not to complain online. The complaint was that a school in our place violated the rules by breaking the rain water drain in the road and inserting their sewage pipe
— Dr. Preethi Ramadoss (@RamadossPreethi) May 22, 2022
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Speaking to indianexpress.com, Dr Ramadoss, who has been residing in the area for over three decades, said she never faced any harassment from corporation workers until recently.
“It has started to happen only recently. Earlier in February, I registered a complaint online about the mosquito menace in my ward (156). The workers did not carry out any mosquito control activities for over three years and I was not able to stand near our garden even for a few minutes and, hence, I raised this issue online. A day later, a worker came and asked me why I registered a complaint online and told me to inform him personally. He further asked me to put up mosquito nets if I wanted to avoid this menace,” she said.
Dr Ramadoss added that on Sunday morning a group of 10 people clad in blue uniforms reached her mother’s residence in the same area and threatened her asking why she had filed a complaint online.
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“On Saturday, my mother had filed a complaint on the Namma Chennai App about the gross violation by a school located behind our residence. The school broke the rainwater drain on the road and inserted a long GI pipe that carries sewage from their premises. On Sunday morning, when I was present at my mother’s residence, the gang came and asked what our problem was if the school damaged the rainwater drain,” she added.
Responding to the allegations, S Baskaran, Zonal XII officer, said they were enquiring into the matter. “The complainant had said that close to ten officers clad in blue shirts threatened her, our team does not wear blue uniforms. We are enquiring whether any of the staff attached to the water supply and sewerage board visited their residence. We have sent personnel from our end to the concerned ward to check about the incident,” he said.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chennai/woman-mother-threatened-for-raising-complaint-on-chennai-corporations-mobile-app-7932376/
