CM promises patta for residents on disputed lands: CPM
Separate representations were submitted to the Chief Minister detailing each land classification, following which a detailed discussion was held.
CPM state secretary P Shanmugam
CHENNAI: CPM state secretary P Shanmugam said that he has got assurance from Chief Minister MK Stalin that the State government will initiate steps to grant pattas to families living on lands classified as objectionable poramboke.
He made the statement after interacting with the Chief Minister at the Secretariat on Tuesday, along with party leaders and district secretaries.
The CPM had been agitating for pattas to be issued to people living on various categories of lands in the Chennai metropolitan area and suburbs. Separate representations were submitted to the Chief Minister detailing each land classification, following which a detailed discussion was held.
Shanmugam said the Chief Minister assured that the government would reclassify objectionable poramboke lands and take steps to issue pattas.
A high-level committee of government officials would be constituted to recommend reclassification, based on which pattas would be granted not only in Chennai but across Tamil Nadu to all eligible families living on such lands, he added.
He said the CPM welcomed the assurance and urged the government to constitute the committee at the earliest and expedite the process.
He also raised the issue of families living in the Tamil Nadu Housing Board tenements, who were unable to obtain sale deeds and pattas due to accumulated interest and penal charges.
The party demanded that the government collect only the principal amount and waive interest and penalties, a request that Shanmugam said the Chief Minister has agreed to examine.
Earlier in the day, thousands of residents from Chennai and its suburbs participated in a protest by the Marxist party, braving heavy rain, to demand house site pattas for people who have been living in the city and its outskirts for decades.
Shanmugam also highlighted the plight of tenants on temple lands and families residing in areas under the jurisdiction of the Railways, defence establishments, and the Forest Department.
He urged the State to hold talks with the Union government, provide alternative land where possible, or acquire the land and issue free pattas.
He criticised court orders that sought eviction without addressing housing rights.
He said the earlier removal of the long-standing ban on issuing pattas in “belt areas” had benefited lakhs of families, and called for steps to ensure no family in Tamil Nadu remained without a patta or a house site.