Villagers lay siege to Kariyapatti taluk office demanding house site pattas

Residents of Jagjivan Ram Colony and Panikkanendal lay siege to Kariyapatti taluk office on Monday, demanding house site pattas.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Scores of residents of Jagjivan Ram Colony and Panikkanendal laid siege to Kariyapatti taluk office on Monday, demanding house site pattas to the original allottees of 1997 or their legal heirs belonging to Paraiyar community.

The protesters, including women, were opposing the proposal of the Department of Adi Dravidar Welfare to allot lands to Scheduled Caste people belonging to other communities from other villages.

“In 1997, people belonging to Paraiyar community bought land measuring 6.30 acres from three persons and handed it over to the Department of Adi Dravidar Welfare for giving pattas to the people belonging to our community,” said B. Kuppathu Raja of Jagjivan Ram Colony.

A layout of 2.47 cents of plots was formed on the land and pattas were issued to 130 families and the remaining land portion was reserved for public purpose. However, subsequently, the officials claimed that only 19 of the allottees were eligible for the lands and cancelled the pattas.

“Our families have grown bigger in the last 30 years. We have been demanding the officials to give the lands to eligible Paraiyar community people. Our contention is that it was our community people who had made significant contribution to buying the land,” said Mr. Kuppathu Raja.

However, the officials were now trying to allot the lands to people belonging to other SC communities too. “They claim that they also belong to the SC community. But, a Government Order issued in 1997 has made it clear that the allotment was meant for the SC Paraiyar community people from Jagjivan Ram Colony and Panikkanendal,” he said.

When the people of these two villages were still living in poor economic conditions, the officials should allocate the lands only to eligible people including the original allottees, their legal heirs or others belonging to Paraiyar community, he added.