MADURAI: 17 years of struggle seeking electricity connections for JJ Nagar, a Kattunayakar hamlet in Tirupparankundram, has come to an end with the intervention of Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan. Within a week of the residents lodging a complaint, around six houses have been given electricity connections.
Speaking to TNIE, MR Murugan, the community head in JJ Nagar, said 15 families of the nomadic tribe lived in a temple land near Thenparankundram back in the 1960s. In 2004, the local body officials asked these families to vacate citing encroachment of temple land, and ten families were provided free patta for land in JJ Nagar.
Two more families were given free patta in 2007, and 10 other families were given patta in 2016. “When we moved to JJ Nagar, the locality was part of the town panchayat. In 2011, it was annexed to the Madurai Corporation. To get an electricity connection, we first needed to apply for a property tax assessment. However, officials at Madurai Corporation denied the assessment citing that the patta document provided to us by the government was only temporary,” said Murugan.
There are 52 families in the hamlet now. Around 20 of the 52 houses fall under Madurai Corporation limits, while the remaining come under the Nilaiyur village panchayat limits. A few have built houses, while others live in huts and tents here. “The two street lights here are the only source of light at nights for over 100 children. They would gather under the street lights to study, braving visits by poisonous snakes and insects. The plight got worse during rains and power cuts,” he added.
Amidst all these challenges, for the first time a child from the hamlet passed Class 12 examinations with flying colours last year and is pursuing higher studies now. In this situation, a local NGO, Thirunagar Pakkam, visited the hamlet to distribute Covid relief measures. Upon knowing of the community’s struggles, the NGO took the matter to the notice of the Finance Minister. “We sent a Whatsapp complaint to the Finance Minister seeking electricity for our area on August 30.
Within hours, we received a reply from him saying officials would contact us soon. Dhanasekar, the Minister’s personal assistant, contacted us and asked us to submit an official petition at the office the next day. He also called us in the morning to follow up on when we would reach there. On the same day, they inspected our area for three hours and said 10 houses were eligible for electricity connection,” said Murugan.
Later, a team of officials from the district administration, Madurai Corporation and Tamil Nadu Electricity Board inspected the area. Upon finding that the pattas given to the families had expired, they assured to renew the documents. Within a week, six of the 10 houses have been provided electricity connection.
The Finance Minister told TNIE, “I was both surprised and sad to know that the issue was not resolved for so many years. The credit should go to the Collector S Aneesh Sekhar who acted promptly on my request. The electricity connections are only the first step. We are hoping to sort out the patta issues soon as well.”