Posted on 10/03/2002 6:45:07 PM PDT by dighton
CHENNAI OCT. 2... The 2,000-odd residents of Jamarah Thottam off Walltax Road here are terrorised by a handful of women rowdies living in 20-odd huts, so much so that not even local leaders dare to speak about them. The locality is a cramming with illegal lodges, buildings and slums, choking the already narrow streets. According to residents, it is a market for stolen goods, breeding ground for illnesses, history-sheeters, drug peddlers, addicts and lower-rung politicians and hideout for criminals from outside.
But the residents and businessmen here are not as fearful of them as they are of the “women rowdies” of the T.M.Chetty Street slum settlement. “It may be just 20 to 30 huts, but they (the slumdwellers) have about 500 votes here,” says Murugan, who owns a lodge off T.M.Chetty Street and lives nearby.
(The names of residents have been changed on request. Murugan, like most others, hesitated to talk about the slumdwellers, saying, “I live with my wife and children here. I cannot afford to take on the women rowdies.”)
“The slums occupy almost all the road and they, especially the women, normally do not allow outsiders even to pass through. Every once in a while, they demand money in the name of donations and whoever refuses is abused.”
Some months ago, one of the women, Saamandhi, struck a resident of Paramasiva Chetty Street in the head so fiercely that he had to be hospitalised. She had apparently demanded `mamool’ for a building construction but was refused.
“The chief sources of revenue for these women and other slumdwellers are `katta panchayats’, construction `mamool’ and `donations’ for festivals and even last rites,” says Rajesh, another lodge owner and resident, who ran into serious trouble with the slumdwellers some years ago.
“They may not all be violent like Saamandhi, but we cannot bear their abusive language and the ruckus they create. We would rather pay up,” says Murugan. Besides, these women have the backing of the men living with them.
The police, however, deny the existence of Saamandhi and a list of other people mentioned as rowdies by the residents. “There is no rowdyism in this area,” said an officer. But the local politicians, most of whom double up as area leaders and are known for their rough handedness, themselves acknowledge the problems caused by the women. They were, however, quick to add that the entire lot was not to be rubbished for the wrongdoing by a few.
“Jamarah Thottam was a hideout for criminals about 20 years ago. Not now,” said an AIADMK leader. “Yes, their huts are on the road, but what is the alternative?” asked a local MDMK leader. “Some of them might be peddling drugs, but that is all,” said another.
Most of these slum huts have been upgraded from wooden shacks to brick constructions and built on the road adjoining regular buildings. They tap power supply illegally from paying consumers and even have cable TV connections. One woman was found on the road under a shamiana, switching channels with a remote control.
The previous councillor of the area (ward 49), P.T.Sivaraman, allowed the upgradation of the dwellings. “I had requested the Government to provide housing, but they refused,” he said.
© Copyright 2000 - 2002 The Hindu
Illegal mining in canal poromboke land allegedERODE: In a daring incident, some persons of Perodu town panchayat have transported several lakhs of rupees worth earthern soil of canal poromboke land in the Perodu town panchayat one week ago endangering the public interest of the area, though the government has announced that illegal mining of any kind would invoke a fine to a maximum of Rs 25000 per lorry load.
According to reliable sources, the violation was done with impunity at day time by using heavy machines.
When the PWD officials removed the fencing without giving notice to the authorities of a private college, the miscreants mined the entire earth of the hillock and a part of the LBP canal on a commercial scale.
When this matter was brought by the college authorities, the revenue officials inspected the place along with the PWD officials and then only they sent a report to the Collector regarding the violation, following which the mines department officials also visited the place and found the daredevil act.
When contacted, the college correspondent said that only to check the illegal miners of the area from operating lorries, she erected a small fence, but the PWD officials without ascertaining the facts removed it which resulted in digging of earth worth several lakhs of rupees and its free transportation through lorries.
``Now, I am not able to even construct a compound wall for the students hostel in the area where the earth was removed up to a depth of 15 ft'', she lamented and appealed to the Collector and SP to take necessary action on the miscreants who looted public property and also on those who levelled false allegations against the college at the farmers' grievance redressal meet held recently.
The revenue and mines department officials conceded that over 421 lorry loads of earth were illegally transported from the area, while two cases were registered against two landholders. The RDO would take further action against the two, they added.
newindpress.com
History-sheeters? "Indian" for revisionists, perhaps?
;-)
History sheets, if I'm not mistaken, are like rap sheets, so history-sheeters are recidivists.
They should have kept the laws in place.
Women rowdies, gunslinger.
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