CHENNAI: For these 197 Dalit families in the village of Sethilpakkam at Gummidipoondi, for whom, as farmhands, work is few and far between, this could be their only chance at owning a piece of land. Now living in makeshift houses on a poromboke land, the families have been fighting for three years to reclaim the panchami land in their village.
The case came up for hearing at the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC’s) open hearing on Thursday. Of the 35 acres of panchami land that has been built upon for various purposes, hardly a square foot belongs to a Dalit presently, they said.
“Most of these lands are now owned by people of intermediate and upper castes from Andhra Pradesh,” said Sivakumar, a member of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front, who has been helping the villagers in their fight.
In the 1942 Madras and Chingleput gazette, the survey numbers of these lands in Sethilpakkam (then Chedulpakkam) are listed as panchami lands.
“We find work only if there is rain. We don’t get work under the MGNREGA frequently either; it’s not like before. My husband and I are barely able to eat one meal a day,” said Santhi C, a farm hand.
“Even if we go to work, we work from 9 am to 2 pm continuously in the farm to get paid `130. They do not give us lunch,” said G Selvarani.
The panchami land was distributed to Dalits in 1892 by the British and can neither be sold nor reclassified. However, it has not been the case so far with the lands being frequently ‘purchased’ and ‘sold’.
K Samuvel Raj, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), said that there were several parcels of panchami lands around the city including Orathur, Vinayaganallur and Athur, which have been lost to other purposes.
In 2017, all 197 families from Sethilpakkam submitted separate petitions to the District Collector. Since then, barring a few rounds of talks with revenue officials, there has been no significant development.