Boy’s plea gets houses for Narikuravas

When Tiruvannamalai Collector Kandasamy attended the jamabandhi (Annual settlement of village revenue accounts) at the Arani taluk office on Monday, Sakthi Ramesh, a 14-year-old Narikurava boy, along with 20 others, told him that his family and community members eked out a living by selling beads and balloons. 

However, he managed to study up to class 8 with the help of an NGO in Kancheepuram “Studying in an urban area, changed my attitude and dressing sense,” he told the Collector and added that he was also encouraging other children of his community to study. Conveying that he helped 25 Narikurava children to join school last year, Sakthi told Kandasamy that he planned to enroll another 15 kids in schools in Kancheepuram. 

The Collector lauded Sakthi and invited the children of his community to study in Tiruvannamalai schools and promised them of all facilities. 

During the meeting, representatives of Narikurava community also told the Collector that they had no pattas, houses or electricity. Immediately, the Collector ordered to identify lands to build houses for them. Talking to DTNext, the Collector said, “We will issue pattas, land and green houses for 44 families in Poyyur within three months.”    

It may be recalled that Sakthi Ramesh was earlier nominated for the 2017 international kids peace prize by the Netherlands based Kids Rights, an international NGO.