Give houses to evicted Muslim families in Ranipet district: EPS

CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has condemned the DMK government in Tamil Nadu for not providing alternate houses to more than 400 Muslim families in Melvisharam municipality in Ranipet district.

In a statement on Thursday, EPS said more than 2,000 families had been living in this place for more than 30 years. They had ration cards, voter IDs and Aadhaar cards in the same address and the children had been studying in the schools and colleges in the neighbourhood.

The Ranipet district administration had decided to evict them and issued the notice to them. When these people approached the Madras high court, it directed the authorities to evict them only after they were given alternate housing facilities as they had lived there for over 30 years.

In 2021 the AIADMK government instructed the officials that they should be evicted only after complying with the court orders. But after the DMK came to power in the 2021, they were evicted and 487 houses were razed to the ground.

“They have not been given alternate houses even after 17 months. Hence, they should be given houses and required loans to enable them to have their homes,” EPS said.