THOOTHUKUDI: Over 1,000 people, including destitute, widows, mentally challenged and elderly beggars are on the streets without food and shelter in the district.
Some poor who could not find jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic are also found begging for food along the main thoroughfare. Meanwhile, private NGOs that take care of homeless persons and mentally challenged, say they have no space to accommodate new people.
The street dwellers were largely found on roadsides, temples and other holy shrines across the district. Over 100 beggars gathered on Tiruchendur Murugan temple premises and over 50 around Sivan temple in Thoothukudi. The premises of the Lady of Snows Church in Thoothukudi beach road, Shenbagavalli Amman temple in Kovilpatti also witnessed beggars. A group of 30 people, most of them construction workers and coolies, were found near MGR park on Palayamkottai road in Thoothukudi town. They are fed by volunteers and NGOs during the lockdown period. However, many say that they get food for lunch but not breakfast and dinner.
One Muthukumar (40) said that he is a construction worker and has a wife and family at Kathiresanagar. However, he begs for food as he has no income, with the construction industry remaining shut.
Thurai, a 46-year-old differently-abled person, said that he used to sell Kambankool (a kind of porridge) in roadside shanties. He could not run the Kambankool shandies due to the lockdown. So he stays on the road pavements to get food supplied by the volunteers and NGOs to share with his family back at home, he added.
Another elderly person Masilamani (65) said that he has been living on the streets for the past three years after the demise of his wife. "I have two daughters, but I do not wish to burden them. I get food for lunch somehow, but rarely for breakfast or dinner," he said. The district administration should arrange a common shelter with food so that people like him would be saved, he added.
Munia Supandi (75) said that his son had chased him away from the house. "My son had threatened me not to come back home or else would break legs," said the beleaguered elderly man.
A flower seller, Gomathi (66) of the second gate, said that her son and daughter are living with their families, and she stays in a relative's home in Thoothukudi. She is on the streets only to get food from the volunteers. Some of the roadside dwellers told TNIE that the district administration or the respective local body should take efforts to accommodate them and provide food. "We would have gone to work for a daily wage to meet their ends if the situation was normal," they added.
Selvaraj, a manager of the New Life Society, an NGO from Nalumavadi village, said that they cater food to over 300 people staying on roadsides, including the odd-100 beggars in Tiruchendur Murugan temple, and in Kurangani, Eral and Authoor.
Ashwathi of a private NGO named Soya, who rescued over 80 destitute, differently-abled persons, mentally challenged and homeless elders from the Thoothukudi corporation area during the first wave of the pandemic, said that her accommodation is fully occupied with 50 people, including 26 women now, as 30 others had left the accommodation following treatment while some had been reunited with their families.
"We can further our rescue service only if local body authorities provide corporation owned marriage halls to accommodate them,'' she added.
She cautioned that not all roadside dwellers are destitute or homeless, as they have homes and families. However, there are some elderly persons deserted by kin and kith, who require shelter and care, she said.
Another NGO in Kootampuli here said that they are not being given a due share of subsidies for taking care of 178 mentally retarded persons and destitute from the government.
Speaking to TNIE, a social activist and professor Dr Jhansi Paulraj said that the state government should distribute food to the roadside dwellers through Amma Unavagam three times a day or either, launch a temporary caring centre to shelter them, she added.