Meanwhile, for Papa Doc, hurdles cleared for 180-acre university

Konerikuppam village, about 100 km south of Chennai, and about 35 km from Ramadoss’s Thalaipuram farm house is the venue for Doctor Aiyya’s (as Ramadoss Sr is called) ambitious project.

‘‘When completed, it will be the first-ever deemed university complex in the country covering the entire educational gamut—a law college, paramedical institute, medical college and management Institutes, besides the existing training institute for IAS/IPS aspirants,’’ PMK spokesperson, Jothi Mani told Sunday Express.

There have been allegations of violations but with a friendly government at Chennai, the noises have died down. In January, before the Assembly elections, the sub-division office of the Public Works Department in Tindivanam issued a notice to the Vanniyar Educational Trust seeking an explanation for the bridge that suddenly came up over a water channel that joins the Ongoor lake in Tindivanam.

Said a PWD official: ‘‘After the notice was issued, the Trust filed an application for a No Objection Certificate for constructing the bridge, which is already completed. No one is going to pull them up now.’’

The villagers also allege that the width of the channel had been reduced by the Trust to accommodate its complex. Former Villupuram Collector, K Balachandran, said he had received ‘‘oral complaints from the villagers regarding the alleged usurping of a burial ground by the Trust.’’ ‘‘But no one dared to give a written complaint to me,’’ he said. Balachandran is now serving a “punishment’’ posting as chairman of the Coimbatore Disciplinary Committee.

On instructions from the Chief Electoral Officer, he had directed Ramadoss not to go ahead with the inauguration of the Training Institute as it would violate the model code of conduct with Assembly elections due in May. So, the grand ceremony to officially throw open the Trust on March 20 was converted to a silver jubilee celebration of the Vanniyar Sangam, the PMK’s first avatar. M Karunanidhi was a special guest.

But Konerikuppam villagers threatened to block the celebrations with a road roko if the ‘‘grabbed’’ burial ground which ran adjacent to the complex, on its extreme right, was not returned. To avoid trouble, the Trust agreed to part with some alternate land. ‘‘We are all too scared to persist with out demand now. The PMK is part of the ruling alliance in Tamil Nadu as well as in Delhi,’’ said Poongodi Ezhumalai, an independent ward member of the local Nallathoor panchayat.

She and three other ward members also accused their panchayat president, C P Balamurugan, a PMK member, of taking a unilateral decision to sanction the Trust to begin construction in 2005. But, after a nasty turf war soon after elections, ending in the hacking of an AIADMK worker, there is not even a whisper of protest. Both Anbumani and his father have been named in the FIR.

Ramadoss Sr is away in the US and was not available for comment. When contacted, Vanniyar Educational Trust member Dr R. Govindasamy said he was not aware of any allegations of land violations. ‘‘I am a loyal soldier of Doctor Aiyya. In such projects, there are bound to be problems. But I don’t know anything,’’ he said.