The residents of Gopalasamudram SriLankan Refugees Camp have opposed the district administration’s move to build group houses for them in an inaccessible place close to the Western Ghats.
In a petition submitted to District Collector R. Sukumar on Monday during the weekly grievance redress meeting, the camp residents said more than 700 members of 250 refugee families had been living in the camp for the past 35 years. Since the State government was constructing group houses for the Sri Lankan refugees across the State, a land close to Thiruvirunthanpulli near the Western Ghats had been identified for them by the Cheranmahadevi Tashildar.
“Even though the Gopalasamudram camp lacks basic infrastructure, it is close to a highway, schools, hospitals, public transport and the inmates can go for work easily from there. The women in the camp make baskets, mats, etc., to augment the income and sell them to their customers. If the group houses are built on the newly identified land, we will have to walk about four km along the forest area to reach the main road. In other words, we’ll have to reconstruct our life afresh. Hence, the Collector should instruct officials to build the houses at the Gopalasamudram camp itself,” the petitioners appealed.
A group of residents from Sivakamipuram under Pappakudi village panchayat, led by ninth ward member P. Senthilvel, sought the Collector’s intervention to ensure sufficient supply of drinking water. They said the drinking water supply to their area was stopped five months ago and their repeated petitions to the officials of Pappakudi panchayat union did not evoke any positive response from them.
“Even though we submitted a petition with the Collector on May 5, no action has been taken on it. The Block Development Officer’s promise of laying new drinking water pipeline to Sivakamipuram is yet to be realised,” Mr. Senthilvel said.
One Roselin Mercy of Chelladurai Nagar submitted a petition seeking action against Nochchikulam village panchayat president S. Velammal as directed by the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court. She said ₹2-crore panchayat funds had been misappropriated with fake bills while no development work had been implemented. The scams were brought to light through the information extracted through the Right to Information Act, she said.
The village panchayat had suffered revenue loss to the tune of several lakhs of rupees in illicit sand mining. Similarly, funds to the tune of several lakhs of rupees had been syphoned off with fake entries made in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, she said and demanded the removal of the panchayat president.
