Using her sarees and old dhotis as the wall of her dwelling, 50-year-old Palaniammal of Mammarangapatti in Sivaganga district is eagerly looking for assistance from the government to build her a house.
In the November 2021 rain, a portion of the mud-wall of her dwelling collapsed. The widow, a casual worker, lives with her son.
When The Hindu spoke to the woman after an activist from the locality explained her plight, she said that after the mud-wall collapsed in the continuous rain, the revenue authorities visited and gave her ₹2,000 as a temporary relief.
When the local revenue authorities came to know about this, one official approached her and asked her to return ₹2,000 since the government would allot her a dwelling soon. “My plight is so pathetic that I have used my old sarees as a makeshift wall and these officials are demanding me to return the money,” she claimed.
“Because of the pandemic, there is no job. I have no money. There is some free rice left at home which I got from the ration shop last month,” she said.
When contacted, Sivaganga Collector P. Madhusudan Reddy said he would certainly look into her grievance. Very soon, a house would be given to her, he said and added that she would not be asked to return the money.
