62-year-old M. Alamelu was filling an oil lamp near her stove. It was time for her to cook and feed her two young grandchildren, who were sitting outside her dilapidated one- room house and studying.
“There is no electricity inside and but for this oil lamp, this whole place would be pitch dark,” said Alamelu, who along with another family next door, were reportedly left behind during the resettlement drive carried out by the Greater Chennai Corporation on Perumal Koil Street, Aminjikarai, in November last year.
“We were told that our names were not on the list because we were not present when the officials had come here to take our photographs. So we were not allotted any house,” said Alamelu. While her house was not razed to the ground like the other 25-odd houses on the stretch, Alamelu claimed that their lives turned miserable. “The electricity connection was cut off. Since then, this place has become a hub for alcoholics, thugs and goons, making it impossible for us to step out, especially when it gets dark. Snakes crawl into our houses all the time. It is very difficult to live here, especially with these two girls,” she explained.
Kavitha, a mother of three and resident of Sunnambu street, is in a similar situation. “I had to struggle to avoid getting my house demolished. Where else will I go with my children,” she asked, pointing to the broken roof and portions of her house. “This house is broken and there are no basic facilities here. But the local authorities have assured us allotment in one of the slum tenements. We hope it happens soon,” she said.
However, officials from the Corporation said that they had allotted houses to everyone covered in the biometric survey in the Aminjikarai slums, and were not aware of families left behind. “We do not know about families who were not covered in the biometric survey. Also they have not approached us yet,” said a Corporation official.
According to official statistics, 2,151 families from the slum areas were relocated to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board tenements in Perumbakkam, over 1,715 to Ezhil Nagar and 193 to Gudapakkam near Thirumazhisai.
“There are around 10 families left behind in this locality, and we have no problem moving to any of the tenements. We just need a proper place to stay,” said 65-year-old A. Shakuntala, another resident.
