A rapid assessment study by the Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC) at Perumbakkam tenements has revealed irregularities in disbursement of subsistence allowance.
From November 2016, over 6,900 families (nearly 27,600 individuals) from 29 informal settlements in the city were resettled at the TNSCB tenements in Perumbakkam and Navalur in Kancheepuram district, AIR Site in north Chennai and Gudapakkam in Tiruvallur district.
Questionnaires given
“Of the 6,900 families evicted and resettled, 74% (5,100 families) were shifted to Perumbakkam. We provided questionnaires to 2,357 families, who shifted between September and December 2017, under the Integrated Cooum River Eco-Restoration Plan,” said Vanessa Peter, policy researcher, IRCDUC.
Out of them, the IRCDUC selected 228 families for the study.
Under the eco-restoration plan, a subsistence allowance of ₹2,500 is given to each family every month for a year.
‘59 families not got aid’
“Our study showed that 25.9% of the families [59 families] have not received the allowance till date, even a year after the resettlement. And, 143 families received the amount only once in six months. Some of them have got in once in two months and hardly three got it every month,” Ms. Vanessa said.
A woman of the locality also confirmed that disbursement of subsistence allowance was irregular. “Many of them have not got it. Every time we ask the TNSCB officials, they pacify us by saying that it would be disbursed in a week,” she said.
New bank accounts
Besides, residents complain that though they had bank accounts, the TNSCB insisted that they should open accounts in a specific bank and that too in T. Nagar.
“Due to this, the residents have to travel all the way from Perumbakkam to update their pass book and for other banking needs. The elderly and physically challenged find it very hard,” said another resident.
A senior TNSCB official said that he would look into the issue.
