THOOTHUKUDI: Never in his weird dreams A Varadharajan of Ayan Vadamalapuram would have imagined that a goodwill gesture of his family will land him in a spot. Everything was fine in the initial days after his father Alagirisamy and his grandmother Kondammal had donated 13 cents of land each to a government panchayat union middle school nearby to construct a building in 1957.
Sources said the family had been cultivating in the remaining 60 cents of land. “A decade ago, the school constructed an anganwadi centre on the five cents of agricultural land where the family had been cultivating, and raised compound walls around the school and anganwadi premises. Now he is left with no pathway to reach his land,” they said.
In a petition to Collector, Varadharajan said he is unable to take vehicles to his farm land after the construction of the compound wall. “Also, other farmers cultivating in nearby lands do not allow a passage through their farms,” he said. This has affected the cultivation, taking inputs to the land, harvesting and transporting the yields to the market. Even though I have been requesting authorities of the school and the Block Development Officer of Pudur, no action has been taken yet,” he rued.
Speaking to TNIE, Varadarajan said his ancestors had donated only 26 cents of land, but over 31 cents of land is under the custody of the school authorities now. “I do not complain about the illegal construction of anganwadi centre on my own patta land since it is being used for a public purpose. I only need a pathway of at least 10 feet width to my agricultural land,” he added.