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Time of India

Transgender people name colony after collector

1 2 3 Virudhunagar: As many as 24 transgender people who received permanent residences in Virudhunagar under a housing initiative have named the colony 'Anbu Aatchiyar VP Jeyaseelan Nagar' (Beloved collector V P Jeyaseelan Nagar) as a mark of gratitude to the district collector. They installed a board with the name, saying that no amount of thanks would be enough for finally managing to get a roof over their heads. It was in February that collector V P Jeyaseelan inaugurated 24 newly established houses for transgender people under the 'Kalaignar Kanavu Illam' scheme at Kovilpulikuthi under E Kumaralingapuram panchayat. Apart from the houses, Rs24 lakh from CSR funds was used to provide basic facilities, including water and electricity connections. Paver blocks and small bridges were constructed in the vicinity of the houses with Rs21.15 lakh from panchayat union public funds. The collector also assured continuous support to the transgender community for their upliftment. Around two months ago, the transgender people who moved into the colony came up with the idea of putting up a name board for the colony. The colony thus became 'Anbu Aatchiyar VP Jeyaseelan Nagar' in recognition of his contributions and support to the community. "We were all living in rented houses before. Being transgenders, many landlords often charged us more, which we couldn't afford as we had no jobs with regular salaries. If a normal person paid Rs2,000 as rent, we had to shell out Rs4,000. Only after moving here did we feel free. It was a godsend for us," said Santhini, a resident. She said employment remains one of the major challenges for transgender people even now. "I applied to be an anganwadi worker several times but am yet to be successful. Unless we get employed, we can't come out of this cycle of being looked down upon in society," she said. Shilpa, another resident, said permanent housing was a luxury for them, and demanded reservation in govt jobs for transgender people so that they get more opportunities. Follow more information on Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here . Get real-time live updates on rescue operations and check full list of passengers onboard AI 171 .