Some of the things that are easily taken for granted – access to bathrooms, hot, home-cooked meals, drinking water and a sturdy roof above – remain elusive for many residents of this city. There are many who seem to be left behind in this metropolis’ mad scramble to increase the liveability quotient for a certain group of people.
Sasikala lives with her husband and six children on Mint Street. The busy road is lined with 60 such families. Still nursing her youngest child, finding privacy at a public place is an everyday struggle. “Even feeding my baby has to be done out in the open,” she says.
For Manju, a community volunteer, who also lived on the streets until recently, NGO intervention has been good but not continuous. The biggest issue her community faces, she says, is access to water and toilets. “The public tap has dried up and we have to go all the way to pump water from Wall Tax Road. People who live on the streets there protest when we come around, fearing there won’t be enough for them,” she adds.
The Corporation public toilets a couple of streets away are permanently closed for about nine months. This means that the about 300 families living on the surrounding streets have to visit the restrooms in Central Station, a good 2 to 3 km away. “We are asked to pay every time we use the bathroom and have to give Rs.10 to take a bath in the same place,” says Abhirami, a flower seller on Nyniappan Street.
At 16, Kalaiselvi has many dreams, but she fears none of these will take off if her family continues to live on the streets. Waking up at 4 a.m. to study has been her routine as long as she can remember, but that does not mean she feels secure. “Men just come and stare. I am always worried if they will harm me while I am alone,” she says.
A lack of coordination among departments that should be addressing their needs has meant the voice of the homeless people is lost beneath evictions without prior notice, and mindless resettlement to distant colonies, away from work and education.
There are no Corporation shelters nearby and anyway, they are not ideal for families in the long run. “A housing solution eludes these people. Slum board does not offer housing unless people are evicted for developmental work and even then, they are far away from their livelihood which is usually location-specific,” an activist says.
