A DMK complaint petition regarding the Periyar Arivulagam issue was submitted to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on Saturday (Nov. 7).
The construction work for Periyar Arivulagam in Coimbatore district was initiated during the DMK regime, and it was inaugurated on Oct. 16 by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay.
Following this, writer Perumal Murugan alleged in an article that there had been major corruption in the purchase of books for Periyar Arivulagam.
Furthermore, he had stated that more than 1,800 substandard books, said to have been generated using artificial intelligence and containing false information, were purchased at high prices from certain publishers, including 'Agalvilakku'.
As this incident has caused a major uproar among political party leaders, various celebrities and leaders are not only registering their condemnation but are also demanding that a proper investigation be conducted and the culprits be punished.
In this context, DMK Legal Wing Joint Secretary I. Paranthaman has filed a complaint with the Director of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Department on behalf of the DMK, seeking an inquiry into alleged corruption in the purchase of books in ‘Periyar’s intellectual sphere’.
Regarding this, the DMK stated in its official X post:
A complaint has been filed today with the Director of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on behalf of the DMK to investigate corruption in the purchase of books at Coimbatore Periyar Arivulagam. The following questions have been requested to be taken up for investigation.
1. Who were the officials who issued the purchase/buying orders for these books?
2. Were the books individually evaluated, selected, and purchased, or were they bought in bulk?
3. On what dates were the purchase orders issued to these publishers?
4. Who were the officials who initiated, signed, and approved the purchase reference file?
5. Was this purchase approved by the qualified book selection / procurement committee, and was the recommended procedure followed?
6. Do authors with names such as Trisha Vijay, Sangeetha Vijay, Thamarai Panneer, Thamarai Murali, Monika Ravi R., and others actually exist?
7. On what dates were the books delivered, and was their quality and quantity checked upon receipt?
8. On what dates, and how much money was paid to each publisher? It notes that the DMK raised such questions in that complaint petition.
