VILLUPURAM: On the centenary year of Villupuram municipality, a colony housing around 3,000 Dalit families will finally wake up to development projects.
A portion of the Rs 50-crore fund, allocated for the municipality, will be used to develop the area.
GRP street in Villupuram, also known as the Periyar colony, has been a picture of poor infrastructure, damaged roads and landless communities residing for generations in the area, said residents.
The condition of the area essentially portrays the social impact of caste discrimination, residents added.
GRP street stretches from four road signal to market, having three major streets including Nandanar street, Arundhathiyar street and GRP street.
A 24-year-old resident, Suman, told Express, “The area has been stigmatized and selectively neglected by the authorities for any development work because Dalits reside here. No other area in the district will be kept dirty and nasty like ours. Even the garbage is picked only once a week at Arundhathiyar street. “
Mahalakshmi* name changed, 34, a resident of Arundhathiyar colony told Express, “None of us here has a house or land patta. Though we have been living here for generations we are all temporary citizens. We are tired of giving petitions to the authorities. Politicians seldom visit our area, even if they do, their promises are the ones written in water.”
Express visited the area during the rainy season in the months of November and December 2019 to assess the situation. The road behind the Arundhathiyar street was waterlogged with a mix of drain and rainwater. This was the condition for two months but no municipality workers came to clean it, said residents.
Sivakumar, 30, alleged, “Behind our house there is a well that is actually a dump yard for the colony. It stinks all year and nobody cleans them for us nor can we begin cleaning it because it needs high-level earthmovers to remove them. We had petitioned the same during grievance day meetings in the past years but no action was taken.”
There are no toilets in most of the houses and the streets are used as toilets. An empty abandoned co-operative building now serves as an open toilet, sources said.
On January 26, Viluppuram MP Ravikumar visited the colony area and received petitions from the residents. Ravikumar told Express, “On the centenary year, it is disheartening to see people live in such disastrous conditions. The state government must allot funds for development into Periyar colony.”
Municipality commissioner V Dakshinamoorthy told Express, “Plans to renew the roads in GRP and Vazhuthareddy colony areas are underway and a part of Rs 50 crore has been earmarked for the project. The centenary year development fund will provide road facilities for all streets in the district.”
Dalit colony youth being denied employment?
“We used to fake our addresses in the resume because we won’t be given any job as we come from GRP street. The employers think youth from our area will be criminals or not qualified for the job regardless of the educational qualification. We are stigmatized for the place we live in, which is in no way our fault," furiously said Selvakuamr* (22), who is a B Sc in Computer Science.
GRP street in Villupuram houses around 3,000 Dalit families.
Over 90 percent of people in GRP street are labourers at the municipality and private firms, said sources.
Over 100 youth in the area hold degrees in arts, business management, and other subjects but they are left jobless because they lack opportunities. Women here are predominantly called for daily wage jobs and household labour work, despite having degrees.
Sumathi, 35-year-old who sells snacks along GRP street told Express, “A private bank denied my loan application stating that people from GRP street won’t repay interest properly. How can we ever stabilize our economic position if all sources of income show caste prejudice against us?”
S Suman, an assistant director from GRP street told Express, “Youth like us graduate with many hopes of getting a job. In a state like Tamil Nadu, we are still struggling to prove ourselves against the caste prejudice of society."
Dalit activist Pandiyan from Madurai said that misery is intentionally enclosed around Dalit communities.
“First a Dalit is refused job if he/she comes from a particular colony and is hired for temporary undignified jobs instead. They are not paid regularly because in most cases the contractors take a lump of money as commission. This is keeping them away from development.”
Express contacted the private bank officials regarding the refusal of loans to people from GRP street, to which the bank refused to reply.
However, a staff from the bank, told Express, “It is quite problematic to avail them a loan because they sometimes violently behave with our employees when they go there (GRP street) for collecting interest rates. So we try to avoid any mess, which is why we deny the loans.”
Meanwhile, owners of medical shops, photocopy and mobile recharge centers seem to have a different view on employing youth from the colony.
M Murugesan (47) who has a chain of four mobile service centers told Express, “The youth from any colony is welcomed as long as they are able to provide service. I have four boys working for me for the past three years and they have been my trusted fellows.”
In contrast, K Selvakumar (55), owner of a domestic hardware shop said, “Regular customers and clients are not comfortable with people from the colony working in my shop, so I don’t employ them.”
A member of the administration in a private small-scale software company said, “Previously a few who worked here scooted after taking one month’s salary and never returned our calls. However, now we have hired one person from the colony but it’s only been a few days and I can’t judge him already.”
(*names changed)