VILLUPURAM: “We never had the chance to experience electricity. It is only during the day that we do our chores. If it is monsoon, we have to deal with gloomy days without light, even during the day,” says K Mohan (35), a resident of the tribal settlement at Konamalai village.
The village has a tribal settlement, comprising 10 families of the Irula tribe, and it was only on Thursday that they received their first electric lamp. The lamps were provided by STEPS organisation, a Tindivanam-based NGO, as part of the 142nd birth anniversary of social reformer Periyar EV Ramasamy. The lamps were distributed to four families there, as the remaining were out of town, said Rajesh, one of the founders of the organisation.