The 18th Cabinet meeting, led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, convened on Monday and decided to grant land titles to 86,000 residents within a six-month timeframe. These individuals have been living on a 32-kilometer stretch across four districts and have faced significant challenges in securing legal ownership of their lands, lacking access to essential services for many years. This longstanding issue dates back to 1962, according to statements from Revenue and Disaster Management Minister KKSSR Ramachandran.
The Belt Area Act, which came into effect in 1962, has been a regulatory framework relevant to this situation. In a post shared on social media after the meeting, the Chief Minister highlighted, “Today we have addressed a 63-year-old plight faced by the poor and ordinary citizens. A total of 29,187 individuals residing on legally unobjectionable lands in the ‘belt areas’ of Chennai and its neighboring districts will benefit from this decision. We have granted approval for land titles to an overall 86,000 residents, including 57,084 people in municipal and district headquarters such as Madurai and Nellai. Since assuming office, our government has issued 1,229,372 land titles.”
This initiative marks a significant step toward resolving a long-standing issue for many of the state’s underprivileged residents.