TIRUCHY:Dalits from E Pudhur here submitted a petition to the district revenue officer (DRO) on Monday alleging that Ramesh, the accountant of Rajathi Ammal—wife of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, had demolished their houses and usurped their land.Ramesh had allegedly pulled down the houses, in which they had been residing for more than 20 years. According to the petition, 31 families lived in Rajiv Gandhi Nagar of E Pudhur (survey no 158/12) and had been paying house tax at the Tiruchy Corporation since 1993-94. The residents had been given power supply, drinking water, electoral identity cards as well as ration cards.However, on January 14, 2008, Ramesh, along with Thambi Raja, a realtor from Karaikudi, came to the area and asked the residents to vacate, claiming that they had bought the land. They then went ahead with a demolition drive after flexing their political clout.Despite complaints, officials and local politicians sat on the issue. “No one came forward to help us, as the issue involved affluent people at the top level of the State,” the petition said.Later speaking to the reporters, Nirmala Devi, who led the residents, said, “They razed all our houses in an hour and the area remains vacant till date.”“We had approached then district revenue officer, the Srirangam tahsildar, the revenue inspector and the village administrative officer. However, no one came to our rescue, and we found that they too were working hand in glove with those private parties backed by political bigwigs,” she said.“We have all the documents to support our claim over the houses,” the residents said in unison. DRO K Petchiammal forwarded the petition to the City Commissioner of Police for further action.
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