CHENNAI: CPM state secretary P Shanmugam has urged the Tamil Nadu government to intervene and allot the completed housing units built in Theni district’s Pottalkulam area to the Dalit beneficiaries who were granted land pattas more than two decades ago.
In a post on X, he stated that in 2000, during the DMK government led by then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, 486 Dalit families in Pottalkulam, under the Allinagaram Municipality, were each allotted two cents of land. However, due to the absence of housing facilities, the patta holders had been living in temporary huts for years.
Later, the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board constructed houses on the same land without obtaining the consent of the original patta holders. The CPM has been consistently staging protests demanding that these completed houses be handed over free of cost to the rightful beneficiaries, he stated in the post.
“Following the intervention of the CPM, the district administration has sent a recommendation to the State government, but it remains pending. The government should take immediate action to hand over the houses to the Dalit patta holders free of cost. Party leaders will also take up the patta issue with the District Collector,” he said.
Shanmugam added that he, along with central committee member K Balabharathi and Theni district leaders, had visited the site, interacted with residents and discussed the next course of action.
“The CPM will continue to stand by the people until the beneficiaries receive their houses,” he said.