Tribute to Activist Traffic Ramaswamy

One-man PIL petition army fought to resolve civic issues in Chennai.

K.R. Ramaswamy, 88, popularly called “Traffic" Ramaswamy, died due to age-related ailments at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on Tuesday. He earned more enemies than friends during his career as an activist. At one point, his family disassociated themselves from him after they received threatening calls and abuses. He started his activism by helping to regulate the chaotic traffic in and around Parry's Corner, and was thereby given the nickname "Traffic' Ramaswamy by the locals. Initially, he was hailed by government officials for his work, only to later become a thorn in the flesh for various departments, particularly the police, with whom he had several run-ins on issues affecting the life of commoners. Be it the eradication of the banner culture in the city, the removal of vendors occupying footpaths or the shifting of iron and steel merchants from George Town to Sathangadu, near Manali, Mr. Ramaswamy had a hand in all. Mr. Ramaswamy's formula to make government servants do their duty was simple - file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition in the Madras High Court and make the officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation and the city police do the work, as failure to comply with a court order would invite contempt of court. However, residents'  welfare associations and social activists, who initially ap- proached Mr. Ramaswamy to find solutions to civic issues in their locality, found that filing PIL petitions for every issue was not the answer, and slowly moved away from him. S. Rangarajan, who was instrumental in forming Neer Exnora, said the filing of PIL petitions by Mr. Ramaswamy brought to light the encroachment of a huge parcel of railway land at the Velachery station. A senior government official said he was instrumental in making the police and Chennai Corporation officials shift iron and steel shops that lined the narrow streets of George Town to Sathangadu. Mr. Ramaswa- my filed a PIL petition in the High Court, stating that the merchants were not moving. For all his good work, Mr. Ramaswamy was attacked by the cadre of various parties on several occasions when he attempted to remove banners. He was also reprimanded and fined by the Madras High Court for filing frivolous petitions.

Courtesy:The Hindu.