01-08-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Keelvalaiyamadevi residents in Cuddalore stage protest seeking house pattas, basic amenities
CUDDALORE: Over 100 residents of Keelvalaiyamadevi village panchayat near Bhuvanagiri staged a sit-in protest at the Bhuvanagiri Tahsildar office on Thursday, demanding house site pattas and basic amenities for Scheduled Caste families who have been petitioning for over three decades.
The protest was organised by the All India Agricultural Labourers Association. CPI(M) senior leader and Gandarvakottai MLA M Chinnadurai took part, along with district president SG Rameshbabu, secretary S Prakash, treasurer T Krishnan, Tamil Nadu Farmers Association district secretary RK Saravanan, and association president T Shanmugam.
According to the association, Keelvalaiyamadevi has over 700 families, of which more than 450 belong to Scheduled Castes. In 1990, land was acquired by the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department to allot house sites to 35 families, but pattas were never issued and basic facilities such as electricity and drinking water remain unavailable.
'In 2011, 14 more families were allotted land, but pattas were not entered into revenue records. The entries must be uploaded and e-pattas issued immediately,' said Rameshbabu.
Protesters said overcrowding had forced two to three families to share a single dwelling. They also demanded that encroachments on 23 acres of poramboke land be removed and pattas issued to 150 landless families.
Bhuvanagiri Tahsildar Saravanan later held talks with the protestors. Officials gave written assurance to lay drinking water pipelines, arrange electricity, and update revenue records for the 14 families. On the demand for 150 pattas, action would be taken with the Collector's approval.
Following the assurance, the protest was withdrawn and the crowd dispersed.
