In Chathirappatti village, Virudhunagar district, the main road was full of potholes, making transportation extremely difficult. There was no proper drainage either, which led to health issues among residents. To raise this issue, we, Vijayalakshmi, Karpagam, and Rakkammal, the branch union leaders, went to the village administrative office and submitted a petition requesting repair of the road and construction of a drainage canal. However, the village panchayat president refused to accept our petition. He questioned us harshly, asking, “Who are you? Where are you from? Why are you submitting this petition?” Later, we returned with a larger group of villagers to submit the petition again. This time, the officials didn’t even allow the people inside the office. We were insulted with remarks like, “You’re provoking people through your union. What are you trying to achieve with this?” But, we did not give up.

We used the eGramSwaraj app to generate a report showing the government’s own list of development needs for each village and presented it to the local officials. Surprisingly, they asked, “How do you know all this?” Yet, no action was taken.

During the Karuppasamy temple festival, a large crowd gathered in the village. We used that moment to speak out about how badly the poor condition of the road was affecting people. We collected signatures from all the villagers and submitted a formal complaint to the Free Legal Aid Committee. Following this, government officials summoned the village administrators, held talks, and quickly agreed to begin road construction. That was a real victory for me. The panchayat president later told us, “Whatever it is, come directly to me next time. I will ensure that it is resolved.”

From this experience, we have learned that working together with the Free Legal Aid Committee is essential to secure our basic rights and entitlements.

Priya, Trainer, TLRF