CHENNAI: Five Paniya tribal women from the Nilgiris, dressed in their traditional attire, visited the secretariat here on Thursday and spent nearly an hour watching the proceedings in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly from the visitors’ gallery.The women, hailing from the remote Koundankollai tribal hamlet in Devarcholai panchayat of the Gudalur constituency, seldom travel beyond their settlement. Gudalur MLA Pon Jayaseelan said it took considerable persuasion to convince them to undertake the long journey to Chennai. “They rarely step out of their hamlet or travel far. I wanted to bring more members of the tribal community to the assembly to see how it functions, but only five agreed to come,” he said.The MLA expressed his gratitude to Speaker M Appavu for allowing the visitors access to the gallery and used the occasion to raise a long-standing demand that the govt enhance financial assistance for tribal housing from Rs 5.25 lakh to Rs 7.50 lakh, citing logistical challenges faced in building homes in remote tribal areas.
