CHENNAI: For a month now, a typical day in 10-year-old P Kalaivani's life has been thus- spending rainy nights at public toilets near the place her house once stood. On some nights, it is at the Park railway station, staying awake warding off mosquitoes, getting up in the morning and getting ready for school in the public toilet. On Friday, she wrote her Tamil Half-yearly exam.
Kalaivani's is among a dozen families in Amma Nagar at Chintadripet that have been allegedly left out from being given allotments to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Baord (TNSCB) tenements in Perumbakkam.
However, their houses have already been razed down along with the other houses on November 11 this year, just over a month ago. Around 150 families here, most of whom were primarily employed as loadmen at the Vanagaram fish market or domestic help, were evicted under the Cooum restoration project,
"Since then we have all been sleeping out in the open or at the public toilets nearby and as our fate would have it, it has been a rainy month so far," said Renuka Devi, who used to work as a domestic help in the area.
The area is now desolate with only the remains of their houses and unclaimed belongings left to be cleared up. The families cook out in the open using firewood and sleep among the debris of their houses during the day and during the night, move out in search of sheltered retreats nearby, mostly settling for naps in bus shelters, railway stations or toilets.
They claimed to have been present at the time of the biometric survey done as part of enumerations before issuing allotments.
"We also have our documents like Aadhaar cards and voters IDs and we have been living here since birth. We have not been given a proper explanation as to why we have been left out," said Rajkumar, who had been working at the Vanagaram fish market.
On the day of the evictions when their neighbours were taken in trucks to Perumbakkam, these families said they were informed that their names were not on the list.
"But they told us we will get the allotments which is why we have been waiting here patiently and also at the same spot, in case they come looking for us," Rajkumar said.
When contacted, corporation officials said that there were no pending allotments to be issued.
"On the recommendation of the PWD, whatever allotments needed to be given, we have already issued," said a corporation official.
PWD officials said that no families having children have been denied allotments.
"These may be families who had already been pavement dwellers. They may not have been there at the time of evictions and may have showed up now," the official said.