Ambattur residents protest for school land

The stir, which began on May 19, entered Day three with the Tiruvallur District Administration hitting a bottle-neck over the disputed land, which had been allotted to the Tamil Nadu Police Housing department through a government order in 2006. Ambattur Tahsildar EH Kalaiselvi conveyed this to the protesters in her letter on Saturday night. However, an RTI reply from the Ambattur tahsildar had failed to mention about the land being allotted to the police. 

The Dr Ambedkar Podhu Nala Mandram has objected the use of the said land, and submitted a detailed memorandum with the Tiruvallur district collector. The police housing department had already begun construction in the land, which is of the expanse of about 5,700 sqm with the funds allocated by the former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2013.

“Ambattur constituency does not have any state-run higher secondary school (boys) whereas it has a government-aided higher secondary school where securing Class 12 admission would require a distinction in SSLC. Considering the economically weaker sections living in Ambattur, the state should make amends to solve the imbroglio by revoking the allocation orders to the police, besides allotting it to the corporation school. The children have to travel a minimum of 10 km from Ambattur for higher secondary schooling,” said advocate K Bharathi, one of the protesters. The protesters also observed that the constituency does not have any state-colleges, and the nearest government college is nearly 20 km away.