Power to the People: Gowramma’s Four-Year Battle for Farmland Electricity Ends in Victory

71 year old Gowramma, widow of an ex serviceman is excited as she looks at waters gushing out of a borewell at her landlocked five acre farmland in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu. It was a four year long struggle to get electricity and it took an order by the Madras High Court to make it possible for her family to take up commercial crop cultivation to improve their lives. 

Around forty years ago her husband Military Ramaiah had bought this piece of agricultural land but he couldn’t pay for electricity then as the family had eight children to provide for. So they managed to raise crops depending on rains, nurturing their dream to get electricity to expand their farming. 

Two of her sons are now engineers and in 2020 Gowramma’s family took advantage of a tatkal scheme and applied for power supply. They had  spent eight lakh for laying cable and sinking a borewell. While authorities completed 80% work, a corporate company around her farmland on three sides refused to let officials tap electricity from their premises; nor would they allow cables to pass through their property. Another option meant taking cable through another company as well.  The other side stretches into neighbouring Karnataka complicating it even more.

It was then Gowramma’s son Narayanasamy Ramaiah got in touch with Advocate Sanjay Pinto on social media. Soon Sanjay and his  advocate wife Vidya took up this issue with determination. The writ they filed faced challenges; however Justice Anita Sumanth to who this case had come made sure officials found a solution. Finally a kilometre long cable was laid  through two companies so Gowramma’s field would have electricity. “Electricity for our farmland was a very long dream for us and now I am so happy. God bless you and your family” Gowramma said thanking the advocate couple.