Amid claims of Madurai city becoming ‘open defecation free,’ ‘cleaner’ and ‘smarter’ through implementation of various schemes lies 9.13 acres of seemai karuvelam filled land in Theerthakadu near Vandiyur, where a large number of families belonging to Scheduled Caste communities continue to live in shanties, with no toilets, electricity and running water.
B. Pandiselvi, a young mother of three children, says they are at the mercy of tanker lorries and people in the neighbourhood for potable water.
While lack of toilets mean they have to walk to Vaigai river bed to answer nature's call, lack of electricity mean children coming back from school cannot study at home, and families often have to shell out ₹10 per hour to petty shops in the neighbourhood to charge their mobile phones. “Since most of us work as daily wagers, we need to keep our mobile phones on since someone might call us for work,” says G. Chellammal, another resident.
The ordeal of the families began with a hope in the late 1970s when the late Chief Minister, M.G. Ramachandran, promising to issue pattas to Dalits residing in the land. Though pattas were issued in 1987 to 349 families with 1.25 cents each, three decades later, the families are yet to get ownership of the land.
Yet to be measured
According to S. Solaiappan, one of the persons at the forefront of the struggle to get ownership of the land, the issue got mired in protracted legal battles with a large number of caste Hindu families also residing in the land. “Though that issue got resolved with their eviction in 2014, the land is yet to be measured and allocated to us,” he said, alleging an indifferent attitude of officials as the prime reason for the delay.
In an unfortunate turn of events, during the eviction in 2014, the tiled-roof houses of Dalits on the land were also demolished. “Since then we are residing in these huts that we built with no amenities,” said P. Muthulakshmi, another resident. “We live with mosquitoes, snakes and swines. It becomes very difficult at night,” she added.
“My husband waited for 40 years to own a piece of land and build a house. But he died without his dream getting fulfilled,” said P. Pitchaiammal, who came to the area as a young bride. “Now, I have grandchildren. We are still struggling for our rights,” she added.
With the families growing in numbers, the Dalits have demanded that pattas be provided in the remaining available land to the next generation families as well.
Vested interests
When contacted, a senior revenue official said there were still issues to be sorted out as a couple of families were creating bottlenecks in the process due to vested interests.
In response to a petition submitted on Monday, Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao has assured to resolve the issue and allocate the land in three months.