MADURAI: Forty long years of struggle living without electricity has ended for Dalit residents of Theerthakadu village near Vandiyur in Madurai as Tangedco officials started installing electricity poles in the locality on Wednesday. Five families would get power supply in the Phase-I of the electrification work.
The development comes months after the TNIE highlighted the plight of the village in a report titled ‘Red tape: Dalit families live in dark for 40 years in Tamil Nadu’, published on February 13, 2026.
The report detailed how nearly 360 Dalit families had been deprived of electricity, drinking water, roads, drainage, and sanitation facilities due to a prolonged dispute between the Madurai corporation and the Revenue Department over the issuance of land pattas. Frustrated by the delay, residents had even announced a boycott of the recent Assembly election.
Although successive governments had promised to issue pattas, only 68 of the 349 eligible families identified in 1982 received e-pattas last year from the then deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, paving the way for infrastructure development. Of these, five families will now receive electricity connections.
Speaking to the TNIE, M Mullaikodi, one of the five beneficiaries, welcomed the development but said the village’s struggle was far from over.
“We are happy that electricity is finally reaching our homes, but we cannot celebrate fully when many families are still waiting even for pattas. After our long struggle for basic necessities, we urge Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay to fulfil all our demands on a war footing,” she said.
Theerthakadu SC Residents Protection Welfare Association office-bearer M Thangapandian thanked the TNIE for bringing attention to the issue. He said Social Justice Minister Vanni Arasu intervened and directed the district administration to expedite the process, describing the electrification work as the first victory in the community’s long struggle.
Thangapandian said the association had also approached the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC).
Acting on the petition, NCSC Director S Ravivarman issued a notice to collector Nishanth Krishna on July 2, directing the district administration to take appropriate action on land rights and the provision of basic amenities for Scheduled Caste residents, and to submit an action-taken report within seven days.
Meanwhile, Madurai East MLA S Karthikeyan visited the village on Wednesday, interacted with residents and assured them that he would raise the issue in the Assembly.