CHENNAI: Late on October 27, a 60-year-old man and his son running a shop near the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board’s tenements at Navalur near Padappai were stabbed to death by a gang of men. The incident was just another case for the police because it was allegedly a crime committed in a fit of rage by a group of men who were desperate for liquor. But for the 600 families of slum dwellers recently relocated to the tenements, the incident was a reminder of the perils they have been facing since their relocation to a place that is about 55 km away from heart of the city.
The families were relocated in recent months from various slums in Chennai as part of river restoration and flood mitigation projects. But forced to move very far from their places of livelihood and, with liquor being the only service available round the clock, the residents feel let down by the state machinery.
“Even on the day of the murder, we kept calling for the ambulance and after waiting for more than 40 minutes, we took them in a share auto to the hospital which is about 13 kilometres away, as no other hospital is close by,” pointed out a resident seeking anonymity. Residents say the incident has come as a rude wake-up call.
On any given day, residents, mostly woman, fear to walk alone even near their houses. They try to avoid staring at the blood stains on the road where the two men were killed. While crossing this stretch, the parents hold their children’s hand tight and some cover the child’s face.
A liquor shop is just half-a-kilometre away from the tenements. “But the nearest ambulance station is 11 kilometres away — at Sriperumbudur — and the second-nearest is 18 kilometres, at Perungalathur. “And by the time we reach the hospital, the patient is already dead,” the resident said.
A visit to the tenements reveals that the residents are forced to reside without even basic facilities. Situated in an isolated place away from city limits, this settlement of uniformly-built, matchbox-type houses forms the backyard of a college, with a board that reads ‘Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board Situated in an isolated place away from city limits, this settlement of uniformly-built, matchbox-type houses forms the backyard of a college, with a board that reads ‘Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board Tenements’ in Navalur.
The sanctioned strength is 2,048 tenements, but only 600 are now occupied. Most of the tenements are locked up as owners have moved to their relatives’ houses in the city.
Various issues
Many issues have persisted since they moved into the locality in December 2017, including lack of basic facilities such as healthcare, ambulance service, proper drinking water, transportation accessibility, government food commodities and education facilities. Pleas to get these have been falling on deaf years, but the TASMAC outlet in the locality is stocked everyday, and makes a turnover in lakhs every month.
Men from all age groups, starting with 15 years, have access to the liqour shop. Though children are denied liqour at the shop, this doesn’t stop them, as they know where to get it illegally right within the tenements by paying a few bucks extra.
“The only supplies available round-the-clock here are alcohol, cigarettes and tobacco, and these are also the prime reason for any fight, assault or murder in the locality. And due to this resettlement, many have lost their jobs and even if they decide to go back to their previous workplace, transportation is very poor,” points out Raju* a resident in the locality.
A local resident who has been voicing their demands for basic needs pointed out that 20 people have died in the last 11 months, with 13 of them, including four children, dying due to lack of health care.
“A medical check-up is conducted twice a week, and we mostly ensure children get medical care. When
there is an emergency, we know we have to travel at least 10 kilometres or more,” she added.
Living in fear
Seconding this, Mary*, another resident says apart from having to live in this poor condition, they also constantly live in fear.
“There are no street lights. We normally do not step outside the house after 7 pm as we fear some drunkard waiting somewhere near could harm us. The locality is surrounded with thorns and bushes. And there are no compound walls and after the murder, it has become even more scary,” the resident adds.
She further points out that without adequately-lit streets, during the evening, the men drink alcohol in open spaces. “There is never a scarcity for liqour in the tenement,” she adds.
Residents claim that, though the area doesn’t have rowdies or dons, young boys are picking up knives, attacking each other, mostly due to the increase in liqour supply. And the main reasons for brawls are the need for alcohol, sale of ganja and petty issues which can be sorted out easily if proper guidance is given. The youngsters have picked up violence not from the city or from television, but from within the four walls they reside in.
“Our pleas to fix the issues have been falling on deaf ears. If the locality continues to be neglected it would get stigamtised and become a major crime-prone zone soon,” claim residents.
“The locality has one primary school and the older children are forced to leave home by at least 7 am to catch the bus as the next bus is only at 9, which makes many miss the first hour of the class. And the harassment in the bus due to the prevalent liqour sale in the locality has forced many children, mostly girls, to drop out of school,” the residents add.
‘High mast lights soon’
In response to complaints of lack of adequate lighting in resettlement colonies in Perumbakkam and Navalur, a senior official in Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board said that a tender has been floated for high mast lights.
“A tender for high mast lights in Perumbakkam worth `1 crore was floated on Friday. Normal streetlights are often being broken on purpose, which was why we proposed high-mast lights,” said the official. Officials said discussions were also underway to improve connectivity issues. “We are planning to develop the Nookampalayam road leading to Perumbakkam.
Discussions are also on to connect the area from Medavakkam high road via a bridge,” the official added. A senior police officer, when contacted by Express, said there is an outpost separately for the locality in which two personnel are always deployed round-the-clock and now we have also intensified patrolling