CHENNAI: As dusk was setting in, Santhi, (42) was seen rushing out of Kannagi Nagar, carrying a bag full of clothes. “My husband will be waiting for me at the Marina Beach. If I go late, others may occupy our sleeping space,” she said. Santhi is one among the hundreds of slum dwellers, who was displaced by the Cooum River Restoration Project.Santhi and her husband Selvam (50), were residing in the platform of the Marina Beach, along with hundreds of people displaced from the slums located on the banks of the Cooum River near Pudupet. The aged couple did not get a house in Kannagi Nagar, a tenemental colony located 30 kilometers away from the city, which was set up by the Government to rehabilitate such evacuees.“Our daughter got a house and she is staying here. I used to visit her once in a week. My husband and I manage our livelihood with the `2,000 I earn working as a maid in a few houses in Pudupet,” she said.“You may ask why I can’t stay with our daughter here,” she pointed out, adding that it was quite a task to travel 40 kilometres and spend `40 everyday on commuting. “Covering such a long distance day in and day out will take a toll on our health,” she said.It was not just Santhi who was aggrieved. Out of the 1,769 familes displaced from slums in Pudupet, 400 families were without a house. Similarly, out of the 270 families displaced from Mayor V R Ramanathan Road, Chetput, 80 families were without houses and out of 40 families displaced from Gandhi Nagar, only 12 families have got houses. Also, nearly 200 families out of 845 families displaced from the slums of Jothima and Stalin Nagar were without houses. They were all displaced from the slums in 2009 for the Elevated Expressway project and Cooum River Restoration Project.Nagammal, a 48-year-old slum dweller who, like the others, had lost her house to a project, shuttled between Kannagi Nagar and the Chief Minister’s office more than 60 times seeking a house to be allotted to her. But all her efforts ended up to a naught. “I have even made my presentation to the former deputy chief minister M K Stalin, but he did not take any action to provide us a house,” lamented Nagaammal.Nagaammal added that their only hope was the present CM J Jayalaithaa. Recalling a past experience, she said, “When Jayalalithaa visited our slum in Pudupet in 2006, I got a chance to speak to her and I told her that she should rule Tamil Nadu like our former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. This time, we all voted for Amma hoping that she would relocate us to the old place,” she added.Eighty families who have not been allotted houses, after the Government evicted them from Mayor V R Ramanathan Road, have since been staying on the platform. Children were seen having food on the platform after their return from school. Moreover, the dimly lit pavement did not offer them the best atmosphere for studying, more so at night.“We have no place to use as a toilet or to even change our clothes. After demolishing our house, they have now cordoned off the bank to prevent us from using the space even for changing our clothes,” complained a group of women on VR Ramanatham Road. They earn their livelihood by selling bamboo baskets.The situation for dislodged people in Jothima Nagar and Stalin Nagar provides a similar picture. More than 15 families were found residing on the roadside.
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