How A Tamil Nadu Woman, 71, Got Power Supply For Field After Years Of Struggle

A 71-year-old Gowramma is so happy to see water gushing out of the borewell in her five-acre agricultural land in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu. It took a four-year-long struggle to get electricity to her landlocked property to power her water pump.

Her late husband Military Ramaiah, an ex-serviceman who bought this land in the 1980s, couldn't afford an electricity connection then as they had eight children to look after and had to be content raising crops depending on uncertain rains. She's happy as her children can now cultivate commercial crops that could improve their lives.

It was a tatkal scheme by the Tamil Nadu Government in 2020 that offered the family some hope of getting connected.

The family spent a total of around Rs 8 lakh to install a 15 HP motor. Her two engineer sons took the lead.

While authorities completed 80% of the work including the laying of cable, the adjoining sprawling property of a corporate company wouldn't let them draw power from their property or let cable pass through their area to the landlocked farmland.

The only other option was to take it from a highway that still has to pass through two corporate-owned properties including the adjoining company.

It was only then that her son Narayanasamy Ramaiah connected to advocate Sanjay Pinto on the X platform. The advocate and his lawyer wife Vidya Pinto took it upon themselves to help the poor old widow and her family and filed a writ in the Madras High Court.

There were a series of challenges including objections on safety grounds but ultimately Judge Justice Dr Anita Sumanth ensured authorities found a way out and nearly a kilometre of cable was laid inside the premises of two companies to bring electricity to Gowramma's land.

"Finding a feasible route for the electricity connection was a challenge. A normal EB connection ought to be given in 30 days. This was a Tatkal application and it took 3 years", said Sanjay Pinto.

"Using a constitutional provision to help a senior citizen, farmer, and widow of an ex-army man fulfill her dream of getting electricity for her motor pump for cultivation gave us goosebumps", said Vidya Pinto.

Gowramma's family has started cultivation with "hopes of a green revolution in our lives", said her son Narayanasamy.