CHENNAI: While mobile network coverage and internet connections in the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) resettlement sites, especially in Navalur, are generally on-and-off, children in these areas may soon be able to see YouTube sensations in person, right where they are. TNSCB officials are looking to rope in internet celebrities, in an attempt to motivate the children in these settlements, as part of the activities that it has lined up, to keep them busy this summer.
“We have a few names in mind, like Coimbatore-based motivational speaker Jayanthasri Balakrishnan. We will speak to them once the names are finalised,” said a senior slum board official. Officials are also looking to encourage students here, to take up sports this summer.
The Board is set to distribute community sports kits that is to include footballs, cricket bats and other sports goods, to the resettlement sites.”This will include sports for both, boys and girls. Children can get it from the people in-charge and return it to them once they’re done playing,” said a Slum Board official. “We want to channelise the energy of these children into something that can be constructive for them in the long run,” the official added. Steps are also underway to clear up the bushes and garbage in the space between two TNSCB apartment blocks in Perumbakkam, to convert it into small play areas, as was intended originally.
“We have made arrangements to install basic play equipment like swings and see-saws in a common area between five blocks in Perumbakkam,” the official said. Meanwhile, officials have also written to the social welfare department to set up a family counselling centre at the resettlement sites and also for rehabilitating victims of substance abuse.
To mark World Tobacco Day on May 31, a two-day rally accompanied by awareness programmes would be carried out in Perumbakkam, to create awareness on substance abuse among youth, officials said.