Lauding the intent of the State Government to draft a ‘fair’ and ‘humane’ policy to resettle communities in ‘dignified manner’, civil society organizations have, however, sought a moratorium on evictions till the policy is finalised.
The collective opinion of ten civil society groups represented by nearly 94 individuals at a consultation on the Draft Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy, 2021, here was that the exercise must be made more extensive covering various districts in the State.
Though the Government of Tamil Nadu had held extensive consultations with civil society organisations and formed a drafting committee consisting of experts, the policy appears to have been drafted behind closed doors. The discussions had so far been confined to select organisations and academicians, the participants said at the consultation organised by Jamal Mohamed College (Autonomous), in collaboration with People Development Initiative (PDI), Tiruchi and Madras School of Social Work, on Saturday. Communities being the primary stakeholders of the policy had not been consulted restricting the scope of the draft, they said.
The draft in English was released on the website of Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) on October 12, 2021, and the Tamil version on October 16, for eliciting public opinion. The civil society groups sought more time for involving the community in the consultation process so that the policy could be made participatory and holistic.
A specific suggestion related to the draft was that the policy should begin by spelling out the key problems and challenges of the resettlement processes that have emerged in the past (such as poor quality of infrastructure and services, and issues of safety) in order to ensure that these issues are addressed. While the idea of a State-level resettlement committee envisaging inter-departmental coordination is appreciable, the composition of the proposed committee: 20 official (government) representatives and one non-governmental representative has to be revisited for better balancing, they emphasised
I. Ambalavanan, Director, Peoples Development Initiatives; R. M. Sam Deva Asir , Assistant Professor in Social Work, Bishop Heber College; Tamilagan, Advocate; K. Sheik Fareeth, Assistant Professor of Social Work, and M. Antony Stephen, Professor, Madras School of Social Work, offered extensive inputs during the consultation, in their capacity as experts.
A. Syed Zakir Hasan, Head, Department of Tamil, and Dean of Arts, Jamal Mohamed College; and A. Mohamed Ibraheem, Vice Principal, also took part in the consultation.
