CHENNAI: Even with various skill development courses offered to women in resettled families by the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board, women aged over 30 are refused employment in companies or factories in the area of resettlement. This was revealed in Advocate Commissioner K Elango’s final report on resettlement sites in city.
As per the report, women in the resettlement sites of Perumbakkam, Navalur and Gudapakkam underwent this ordeal. Calling it a ‘major social issue’, the advocate commissioner urged the state government and the HC to intervene and issue suitable advisories to the companies. “I am unable to understand on what basis those companies come to the conclusion that women aged above 30 are not productive and they are weak,” the report stated.
The advocate commissioner was appointed by the Madras High Court to file a revised report on resettlement sites in the city. Accordingly, he visited the sites in Navalur, Perumbakkam and All India Radio Nagar. In the concluding part of the report, the advocate commissioner called for the model of resettlement to be ‘reconsidered’.
Elango said the staff at Serpananchery panchayat burial ground in Navalur were charging the resettled residents Rs 30,000 for each cremation even after the TNUHDB officials intervened. In the middle school, desks are only provided for middle-school students, while those in primary classes have to use the floor. There are three balwadis in the area and all of them are run by helpers and have no teachers, the report said.
In Perumbakkam, the advocate commissioner said that no steps were initiated to set up a de-addiction centre in the area despite the issue being pointed out in his earlier report in 2018. School-going children have free access to ganja, the report said. Residents in AIR Nagar complained that the medical officer visits the health centre only once a week. In the absence of the officer, a staff nurse diagnosed the patients’ ailments and prescribed medicines.
During his inspection of the health centre, he was told that the medical officer was on leave from May 29 to June 23. The resettlement site also stands in urgent need of an old-age home with medical care along with CCTVs and strengthened infrastructure. “Several of these issues are long-standing complaints. Resettlement of residents demands urgent action and expenditure from multiple departments. Therefore, the whole resettlement model must be reconsidered, to avoid future problems of lack of adequate facilities,” report said.
Pain points
Navallur
Lack of telephone signal further exacerbates safety concerns for women
About 60 families from Aminjikarai are yet to receive allotment papers
Evictees from Kancheepuram asked to pay `60,000 as down payment to receive allotment papers
Perumbakkam
There is no All Women Police Station at Perumbakkam
Women have to travel all the way to Semmancherri All Women Police Station, which is already flooded with a huge number of cases
For a settlement site with one lakh people, there is only one higher secondary school, one high school and two primary schools
AIR Nagar
The quality of plastering of walls at a primary school run by the corporation is poor. Black boards on the walls cannot be used because of the poor quality of plastering
Gudapakkam
There are 1,024 tenements in 32 blocks. Huge garbage piles present at every corner of the street
Residents said Kudappakam panchayat does not clear the garbage on a day-to-day basis