With over 20 lakh tenants across the State, Tamil Nadu Koil Manaiyil Kudi Iruppor Sanganngalin Kootammaipu, a Federation of temple tenants, has urged the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department to fix fair rents for their properties.
Sasikumar, office-bearer of the federation, said many of them were offered temple house sites so that the places of worship would get an income. Now, many temples are well-off and get donors, who carry out most developmental works. “We are fed up with the system. If we approach the courts, our cases are not accepted since we are told to pay our rents first,” he said.
Balasubramanian, another office-bearer, said that it had been over a year since a committee was formed to fix the fair rent, but nothing has happened so far. “This government says that it is treading the path of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. When that is the case, he had issued two G.O.s fixing fair rents for such properties. Those should be implemented as soon as possible,” he said.
Members of the federation cited various examples of how residents of Panamalai and Puliyanur villages in Villupuram, who were daily wage labourers, were being told to pay Rs. 1000 per month as rent. “These people are illiterate and do not have a fixed source of income. For many, the lands provided by temples came as a saving grace since they could not afford to buy lands. They have spent their life savings on building homes and if they default, they are faced with eviction notices. Some tenants, who were paying Rs. 35,000 per month, are now being charged over Rs. 1 lakh. We only want fair rent. In many cases, the executive officer does not know how the rent was arrived at,” said one office-bearer.
