TIRUCHI
Transgenders have written to the newly elected Chief Minister M.K. Stalin seeking their inclusion in the welfare schemes allocated for women in the state. They sought free travel in buses, job opportunities among other needs.
A former member of the Tamil Nadu Transgender Welfare Board P. Kajol wrote a letter to the CM Cell, and also approached him through social media to draw attention to the fact that transgenders are also women who deserve the welfare schemes extended by his government. While free rides on buses were one of the requests, it would also be able to allow them to travel to places to seek out job opportunities, they said.
Speaking to The Hindu, Kajol said that various ministers in the past have been photographed helping transgender women but ignore them otherwise. "I am asking that the government extend the same benefits that they have given to women, to us. After all, we are women too," she said.
The benefits would help alleviate many transwomen from poverty and change their lives for the better, she said. Many transgender women were being thrown out of their homes, disowned from families, and not received a share of ancestral property, Kajol complained.
"In our list of demands, we have also sought that there be a government order passed to include us in these ancestral property matters," she said.
Kajol hoped that this government would be able to provide reservations in all categories of jobs and not ignore their presence in the state.
