A resident of Pattabiram finished building his home in June, but is unable to move into it with his family as he is yet to receive power supply connection.
The only problem is that the small piece of land on which he has constructed his home is classified as ‘poromboke’ (unassessed waste land). Though Anand Raj’s family has been enjoying ownership of the land for several decades, he has not been able to get the power supply connection for his newly built home.
When asked about the delay in providing the power supply connection, he was informed by Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) that the land’s classification was the reason they were yet to give him the connection.
Mr. Raj, who has built his home on Kakkan Street, Model Nagar, said: “First officials of Tangedco asked me to submit property tax receipt, ration card and bank statement, which I duly submitted. But after a few days Tangedco officials asked me to get a NOC from the Tahsildar, who refused stating they had stopped issuing them now.”
A senior official of Tangedco said that for giving power supply connections in such cases, applicants had to get the NOC from the nearest Tahsildar. T. Sadagopan, a consumer activist, he had received a number of complaints from residents after they were denied power connections to residents who own property in Poromoboke land. Pointing out that power supply connections were issued to several thousand poor families living in government property all over the city, he said Tangedco or the Revenue Department should not deny power supply to residents like Mr. Raj in Model Nagar.
