Ranipet Collector striving to bring Irula families to mainstream

Talking to DT Next Baskara Pandian said, “Irula community members were marginalised as they did not have Aadhaar, ration, voter identity cards or community certificates. Owing to this, they were not able to enroll themselves even for jobs under the government’s 100-days work scheme. As payment for such works are made through bank accounts, they have to mandatorily submit these documents.”

“Without these documents, they were not able to open bank accounts and hence they subsisted by working in brick kilns and as agricultural coolies in addition to chopping trees and selling them as firewood to eke out a living. They also did not follow their traditional work of catching snakes though the district has plenty of them,” he added.

Pandian thus embarked on a mission to provide them with house site pattas after inspecting their “huts.” “It was shocking to see the condition of their dwellings. A few poles supporting the thatched roof covered by worn out and torn flex sheets. There were no walls and in some huts saris were used for privacy” the Collector said.

The Collector said that he was taken aback when a pregnant woman told him she had never visited the nearby PHC for routine check-ups though the service was offered free by the government.

An official seeking anonymity said, “when we provided them hygiene kits, which included soap and sanitary napkins, they do not know how to use them and so we had to designate an official to guide them.” After taking note of all these problems, the Collector took steps to provide necessary documents. As a result, 1447 house site pattas, 1396 aadhar cards, 644 ration cards, 33 diffabled identity cards and 1419 voter identity cards are to be provided to the members, while others have already got these documents.