While Chennai’s highrises that populate its skyline reflect the city’s development, the presence of several thousand families on the streets, living there for generations, is a pointer to its non-inclusive growth.
Schemes to relocate several homeless people and families, who live in slums along the city’s waterways and other segments, to locations far beyond the city limits have met with little success, say activists. The primary reason is that the relocation has cut off access to livelihoods.
The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board has constructed, and continues to build, flats in multi-storied complexes across locations in the city’s suburbs. Be it Kannagi Nagar in Okkiyam Thoraipakkam or Ezhil Nagar in Perumbakkam, families relocated there complain of loss of income as there are not many jobs available nearby.
“Families are forced to live in cramped houses far away from the city. The poor who are dependent on the city for their jobs face the threat of permanent loss of their livelihood,” says G. Victor Gnanamani of Tamil Nadu Kudisai Vaazhvor Sangam.
According to Vanessa Peter, a policy researcher on the issue, there is no linkage between housing and livelihood for urban poor in the city. “Housing provided for those in Kannagi Nagar did not take into account livelihoods that were lost in the process of providing a permanent housing solution,” she says.
Officials argue that the flats, especially recently inaugurated ones, have a carpet area of more than 250 square feet, and provide access to quality healthcare, schools, parks and playfields. Reaching the city will never be a problem for families living in the tenements as connection is ensured through the Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s services, they claim.
