The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : For Sri Lankan refugees, housing is the bugbear

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Wednesday, Nov 04, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

For Sri Lankan refugees, housing is the bugbear

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Ministers and officials visit camps in the State

— Photo: M. Moorthy

SPOT VISIT: Transport Minister K.N. Nehru hearing the grievances of the refugees at Kottapattu camp in Tiruchi on Tuesday.

CHENNAI: Lack of proper housing is the main issue that Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in camps conveyed to State Ministers who visited them on Tuesday.

Officials explained that housing in most locations was cramped and unhygienic because the locations were chosen in a hurry when the flow of refugees was at its peak during the first Eelam war in the 1980s. “Once Mandapam [camp] began overflowing, I believe nearby districts were also roped in. There does not seem to have been any planning at that time,” one official said. Also, the number of persons in the camps grew dramatically as more refugees poured in. Later, as refugees began raising families, many of the quarters became unliveable, he added.

The study was undertaken after a meeting held at the Secretariat on Monday on the condition of camps in the State. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had directed Ministers and officials to visit all the camps and report back.

There were no complaints from refugees about getting government aid or food and other essential items. In fact, they thanked the teams that visited camps in Sivaganga, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Tiruvannamalai and other locations for the prompt supply of rice and other essential commodities. There were also no complaints of harassment by police personnel or officials when approached for resolving local issues.

Peculiar problems

However, the refugees brought to the notice of the teams several peculiar problems that required immediate solutions. For instance, many of them were not able to open a bank account or access loan facilities. When this was brought to the notice of the team at a camp in Tirunelveli district, the District Collector informed the team that refugees in other camps had bank accounts. “We will use the same logic to [let them] open bank accounts here,” he said.

Also, they were not sure where the law stood on marriages between a member of the refugee community and a local resident. Many such marriages have taken place across the State, according to members of the teams that visited them. Yet another peculiar issue was that the children born to the refugees in Tamil Nadu had no particular attachment to Sri Lanka. Many of them told the members that they wanted to remain in India as its citizens.

The teams of Ministers and officials will visit the remaining camps on Wednesday.

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