Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi said on Monday that villagers in Nagapattinam district, who are eligible for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, are unable to benefit from the initiative due to administrative indifference and suspected corruption. The Tamil Nadu Governor's statement came a day after he visited Keezhvenmani hamlet in Nagapattinam district, where a landowner burned over 40 agricultural labourers alive five decades ago, in 1968.
Taking to X, Governor Ravi stated: "It is tragic that the deserving poor villagers of Nagapattinam district are not able to get the benefit of PM Awas Yojana due to administrative apathy and alleged corruption. A humongous high-cost concrete structure in Keezhvenmani village as a memorial, to commemorate the massacred 44 poor labourers, amid thatched shacks of the poor all around by a political party that claims to champion the proletariat is not only ironical but a mocking insult to the martyrs and the poor."
During his visit, the Tamil Nadu Governor also met with the lone survivor of the 1968 tragedy, G Palanivel.
"Visited Keezhvenmani village in Nagapattinam district and met Thiru G. Palanivel, the only survivor of 1968 massacre. Also visited Nambyar Nagar inhabited by fishermen and Jeeva Nagar by Scheduled Castes. Shocked to see the abject poverty all along the villages. One wonders how long these unfortunate brothers and sisters have to wait for social and economic justice," he stated in another post on X.
Governor Ravi visited the Velankanni Church on his trip to Nagapattina and prayed for everyone's well-being. He also had conversations with the priests.