Villagers Make A Beeline For Govt. Land

Earmark plots for themselves in Erode district, spurred by rumours of regularisation.

- S.P. Saravanan

Believing a rumour that the government would regularise encroachments, over 850 people on Tuesday laid claim to a 50-acre stretch of vacant government land at Kannimakadu near Chithode in Erode district.

The land is located near a hillock where people have been gathering for the past few days. They marked out plots of 1.25 cents each, placed stones and fenced them off with ropes.