A free tuition centre for underprivileged children run by a group of youngsters in Vyasarpadi has been served an eviction notice by the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB).
Dr. Ambedkar Pagutharivu Padasalai is an initiative of Vyasai Thozhargal, a community of over 50 volunteers from the locality. In an effort to help children with education and keep them engaged during after-school hours, the youngsters, most of them first-generation graduates, started tutoring students and eventually built a centre on a vacant piece of land in JJR Nagar 4th Street in 2019.
On October 7, a few days after TNUHDB officials made a sudden inspection, an eviction notice terming the centre as an encroachment was served. “When the slum clearance board built the tenements decades ago, a vacant land was left for public use in each of the eight streets. Over the years people built shops, houses, and even local offices of political parties in some streets,” says Sarath Kumar, advocate and a member of Vyasai Thozhargal.
The only remaining parcel of land was on 4th Street, filled with garbage and sewage. With the efforts and contribution of volunteers and parents of the children, it was turned into a centre, where over 70 students are also taught kabaddi, carrom, basics of the Right to Information Act and women’s safety. “The intention is not for students studying here to score 100 marks but just enough to pass and learn good values,” says N. Sakthivel, a volunteer.
When volunteers met officials from the Board, they were informed that a complaint was filed associating the centre with ‘known rowdies’ in the locality, and it was being used for antisocial activities. “There was a notice in 2020 when someone had made a similar complaint, almost word for word,” says Mr. Kumar, questioning why the complaint was not closed after officials visited the tuition centre and why only this land from a total of eight streets was being scrutinised.
Members of Vyasai Thozhargal say that for the last three years, they have been trying to get the land legally allotted, but to no avail. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the TNUHDB told The Hindu that an individual had complained against the tuition centre to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, which in turn asked the Board to take action on the complaint.
‘Working out an arrangement’
The spokesperson said the Board was also concerned about the education of the children in the locality. Considering the centre’s argument that they were making a positive impact on the children’s education, he said the Board would be open to working out an arrangement in accordance with the norms to ensure that the centre continued its work at the present location.
(With inputs from Pon Vasanth)
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