Tamil Nadu IT worker leads 43-member group to restore village water

In 2018, M Velmurugan was returning from work when he noticed a gram sabha meeting taking place in a village on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Residents were speaking about local problems and making demands before the authorities. The meeting made an impression on him. He began wondering why people in his own village, Vellur in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar district, were not participating in similar meetings.That observation eventually led to the formation of a 43-member civic association that now works on local issues ranging from drinking water and pollution to burial-ground facilities and environmental awareness.As reported by The New Indian Express, Velmurugan was working a regular 9-to-5 corporate job when he first came across the gram sabha meeting.