DHARMAPURI: For decades, Dharmapuri district has been witnessing the trend of ‘pendulum migration’, wherein people return to their native places once in a year for the elections or a festival and migrate to other districts again in search of jobs.
Though many of the migrants turn up for polling, the issue has never found a mention in any political party’s poll manifesto.
According to sources in the civil supplies department, about 50,000 ration cards were cancelled last year in Pennagaram, Harur, Pappireddipatti and Dharmapuri taluks after a door-to-door verification found that the cardholders had migrated to other places from the district. Statistics reveal that around 2,40,000 people have left the district in a single year to other districts and neighbouring states in search of jobs.