Tirukanoorpatti residents announce poll boycott

TIRUCHY: Residents from a village in Thanjavur on Friday staged a protest for patta and basic amenities and announced a boycott of the Lok Sabha polls on April 19.

More than 500 families are residing at MGR Nagar in Tirukanoorpatti panchayat in Thanjavur for more than two decades. They have not been given patta and no other basic amenities, including drinking water, road, and streetlights.

It is said, they had approached the officials with their demands for several years, but no action has been initiated on their petitions. They also said that they had even approached the elected members.

“Whenever we approach them, they receive our petition and forget about it,” said the residents. Meanwhile, revenue officials recently told the residents that the particular area was a waterbody and thus, they were not able to give patta.

“We have been residing in this spot for more than two decades and we were promised during every election, which is the major demand for the residents and now, they find some unusual reason for non-distribution of the patta,” they argued.

The residents said there are more than 600 voters in the village and they have decided to boycott the election if their demands are not fulfilled as they found no other option.

On Friday, they commenced a waiting protest demanding patta and the basic amenities. On information, the revenue officials visited them and held talks with the agitating residents.