With his parents dead and unable to find a job due to disability, a differently abled youth from Palayamkottai submitted a petition to Collector V. Vishnu on Monday, appealing to him to ensure continued disbursal of family pension to him.
According to S. Raja of Kottur Road in Palayamkottai, his father Sudalai Muthu, who was working with Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) as driver, died in 2007 and his mother Esakkiammal was getting the family pension. After Esakkiammal also passed away on January 1, the youth, a postgraduate, was left with no income.
“My mother and myself were the legal heirs to my father and we managed to meet our expenses with the family pension we were getting from the TNSTC. After the demise of my mother, I submitted the death certificate to the TNSTC administration asking them to stop the family pension as per the norms. Since, I am alone and have no income, I want the Collector to recommend to the government to continue to give the family pension to me so that I can lead an independent life without being a burden for others,” Mr. Raja said.
Temple land lease
A group of persons from Sernthimangalam submitted a petition to the Collector to fix nominal lease amount for 54 cents of Swami Nellaiyappar Temple land on which they have built their houses.
The petitioners, led by T. Natarajan, said they had been living on the temple land for more than 40 years and paying the lease money to the temple management. When 11 families received notice from the temple authorities on July 5, 2018 asking them to pay the lease amount of ₹2.64 lakh immediately, they had been paying the dues in several instalments though the breadwinners of these families are manual labourers.
“Against this backdrop, 11 more families received notice from the temple authorities on November 30, 2020 asking them to pay arrears of ₹26 lakh. Since we are all labourers, the Collector should order the temple authorities to fix a nominal lease amount, considering our hand-to-mouth existence,” Mr. Natarajan said.