The policy note for 2022-23 of the Public (Rehabilitation) Department, placed in the Assembly on Saturday, was silent on the payment of cash dole to Sri Lankan Tamils who reached Tamil Nadu by sea since March this year because of the economic crisis in the neighbouring country.
As on April 29, the Mandapam rehabilitation camp housed 75 such persons — 25 men, 23 women, 13 boys and 14 girls. “They are being provided cooked food at the rate of ₹175 per person per day. They are also provided with 22 essential items, including clothes, mats and blankets,” the document said. They were “allowed to stay” at the camp (on humanitarian grounds) after being “interrogated by the police”.
(Ordinarily, the policy note forms part of the initial observations of the Minister concerned at the commencement of the debate on the demand for grants for his or her department).
However, with regard to those (58,492 persons as on March 31) who were staying in rehabilitation camps for long, the document referred to the enhanced monthly cash dole, announced by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in August last. Under the revised scheme, the head of the family was being paid ₹1,500; every additional member (aged 12 and above) ₹1,000; and child (below 12) ₹500. At the end of March, there were 33,639 persons living outside the camps.
Three camps in Dindigul district, which were on private land, had been merged into one, and 321 houses were under construction at a cost of ₹ 17.17 crore, the document said.
