SALEM: Nine years after they took to the streets against the high and mighty of Salem – an event that led to the formation of the Land Grab Cells and Courts all over the State – the residents of Angammal Colony are back to square one. On Friday, they had to sit on the road again and go on a fast and began – what seemed yet another long struggle for their lands allegedly grabbed by the DMK leaders. They want the patta to be be transferred to their names.
On January 20, 2008, thirty one families who lived in Angammal Colony lodged a complaint with the Salem City Police Commissioner that they were forcibly evicted by the then Minister for Agriculture, Veerapandi S Arumugam’s relatives, Salem Corporation Councillor Gym Ramu, the Minister’s personal assistants and nephew Suresh Kumar. M A D Krishnasamy and Ulaganambi, the local senior leaders of the Congress, were also party to the conspiracy . The issue was initially ignored by the politicians, but the complainants put up a spirited struggle for their lost homes.
On April 4, 2011, Jayalalithaa in her election campaign speech at Salem promised the residents of Angammal Colony that if voted to power she would restore their lands grabbed by Veerapandi S Arumugam and Co. She further promised to set up special police cells and courts to investigate complaints of land grab that had become rampant all over the state during the DMK regime.
Living up to her promise after winning the elections, land grab cells and special courts were set up in all districts. Veerapandi S Arumugam, called the strong man of Salem, was framed as accused no.1 in the sensational Angammal Colony land grab case and was arrested along with his henchmen. The then Salem RDO and Tahsildhar were also arrested for allegedly facilitating the transfer of the land grabbed from Angamal Colony in the name of Veerapandi S Arumugam’s Politcal PA Koushika Boopathy.
After the high drama of arrests ended, the Salem City Police Commissioner cum IG Mahali facilitated the resettlement of the 31 residents back into Angammal Colony on June 6, 2012. The area was given round-the-clock armed police protection under an Assistant Commissioner. However, the resettlement was not complete as the land patta title was technically with the Koushika Boopathy who claimed to have bought the lands. “We are still vulnerable until the government transfers the patt title to us,” said Ganesan, who led the 31 families in protest then.
The families were third generation descendants of workers of ANS Jewellery. The jeweller had gifted a part of the 8.89 acre land to the workers to build a colony. A part was sold off to a Cooperative Housing Project. The area had premium value in terms of real estate as it was next to the Salem New Bus Stand and hence eyed by the high and mighty.