Abuse complaint on Kallar panchayat vice-president

KASARGOD: A child development project officer (CDPO) and Kallar grama panchayat in Kasargod are engaged in a verbal spat, and the issue has reached before the district collector and the police. According to the complaint of Ann Darley Varghese, the CDPO at Parappa, Kallar panchayat vice-president T.K. Narayanan had outraged her modesty by using abusive language over the phone. The issue broke out over letting the participation of Anganwadi teachers according to CDPO’s schedule or in the ‘Oorukoottam’ meeting convened by the panchayat on the same day.

The squabble resulted in heated exchange of words and filing complaints. Mrs Varghese filed a complaint with Rajapuram police on April 25 and Mr Narayanan with the district collector the next day. “She used to behave rudely to Anganwadi staff. The teachers had conveyed their grief to me. The same she took against people’s representatives. She doesn’t mind the activities of panchayat and acts in a feudal manner,” Mr Narayanan claimed. Rajapuram sub-inspector Ranjit Raveendran said the police had registered a case against him for using obscene words and criminal intimidation.

On Narayanan’s complaint, the district collector had forwarded it to social justice department officer for inquiry. But sources close to CDPO say the actual issue is something else. “Mrs Varghese terminated an Anganwadi worker who was appointed illegally by her predecessor. The worker is the relative of a local Congress leader, and it irked the Congress-ruled panchayat’s vice-president,” a source said. In-between the complaints, Kallar panchayat president Thresiamma Joseph too filed one against CDPO alleging rude behaviour. Mr Narayanan denied the allegations of party revenge over the termination. “That’s absolutely false,” he said.