CHENNAI: Twelve years after the tsunami destroyed everything they had, a family of four middle-aged siblings, all persons with disability, are back to the same situation.
This time, however, it is not a giant wave that has wrecked their lives, but the apathy of the local officials who removed the public telephone booth that they depended on for livelihood for laying a road, under the promise of restoration.
If that was not enough, the ongoing demonetisation drive has affected disability pension to them, a meagre Rs 1,000 a month, for the past two months. This is a family that had nothing merry about the Christmas that went by, and had nothing happy to look forward to the new year.
The siblings – Vishwanathan (49), Thiagarajan (47), Karpagam (45), and Jayaraman (40) – from Pattinapakkam suffer from cerebral palsy and meningitis. There was a fifth, Chandra, also disabled, who died in that devastating tsunami on December 26, 2004. Two years later, the State government provided them a telephone booth as a means to livelihood.
They used to make as much as Rs 300 a day during the best of times, but after the advent of mobile telephony, it dwindled. “The income came down to just about Rs 30 in the recent days. But we were happy to earn whatever we could to support ourselves,” said Thiagarajan, as his quivering hands held tightly the rope tied all alone at their home to help him walk.
The actual trouble began with the December floods last year. Following this, the Greater Chennai Corporation began undertaking several works including cleaning drains, and cleaning and widening roads. They also removed the telephone booth, but promised that it would be reinstalled at the same spot. A year has gone by, “but that has never happened so far,” Thiagarajan added.
This forced the siblings to depend on the disability pension. But that was before the financial tsunami that the confiscatory demonetisation caused. “Right now, the pension has also been stopped for the last two months due to demonetisation,” said Karpagam.
The brothers and sisters are now totally dependent on the only sister, a sanitary worker, who is an earning member in the family. “Our sister Suguna, who devoted her entire life to bring us up, is continuing to provide for us,” said Thiagarajan.
But she is 56 years old and will have to retire in a couple of years. “We are indeed staring at uncertainty,” said Thiagarajan, as he made his way by holding on to ropes tied along the rooms linking them to the outside world as well as rooms inside the housing board quarters built after the tsunami hit their home near the Pattinapakkam fishing hamlet.
The siblings lost their mother Andalamma and father Armugam. “We were a family of five. Our sister Chandra died during the tsunami, but the `1 lakh compensation announced for the family never reached us. We came to know someone else pocketed it,” said Karpagam.
When contacted, senior corporation official told Express that the booth was allotted a decade ago. Since then, there has been tightening of norms by the courts, directing the civic body not to permit shops and other establishments on the shoulders of the road. “We have no problem if they put the booth back, but we are not in a position to give them official sanction due to court cases,” the official said.
With telephone booths rendered relics, the family is urging the State government to provide them instead with a shop so as to be able to take care of themselves. Social activist Aruldoss, who is helping them seek state government aid, said that the family is leading a hand-to- mouth existence for a while now. Many times, he had to seek help from Good Samaritans to provide them with food and basic essentials.