PMK founder S. Ramadoss on Sunday wrote to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin urging him to offer an equal extent of land as a compensation to the Arulmigu Aayiram Kani Aalavandar Naicker Trust, from which lands had been taken over for implementing drinking water projects, including a desalination plant.
He said that Aalavandar Naicker had given lands to the Vanniyars for the purposes of education and development of the community. “The State government should stop unilaterally taking over the Trust’s lands. The lands that have been taken over should be compensated for by the government,” he said.
According to him, 1,550 acres were given away for spiritual reasons, and the Trust had around 1,054 acres of land.
“When a question was raised over whether the lands could be used for purposes other than spirituality, Justice Seshadri Iyer had said, on April 25, 1918, that it could be used for educational purposes. However, the lands are being used for purposes other than what they were intended for. We cannot accept it,” the PMK leader said.
A desalination plant is being set up at a cost of ₹4,276.44 crore near Mamallapuram in Chengalpattu district for providing drinking water to residents of south Chennai.
“Around 85.51 acres of land from the Trust was taken over. Another desalination plant was set up in the Nemmeli panchayat, and it has been operational since 2013. On the same campus, another plant was built at a cost of ₹1,516 crore and opened in February by you. A total of 125 acres belonging to the Aalavandar Trust was taken over on lease. A total of 210 acres have been taken over to set up drinking water projects. Taking over of the lands for purposes other than what was intended by Aalavandar in his Will cannot be allowed,” he said.
According to him, the Vanniyar community was still backward when it came to education and jobs, and it would be apt to use the lands for the purposes of education, jobs and development of the community.
