DHARMAPURI: Srilankan refugees living in Vaniyar dam rehabilitation camp staged a protest condemning the Dharmapuri administration for failing to allot proper housing for them.
On Friday, dozens of residents from the refugee camp at Vaniyar dam staged a protest as they are aggrieved by the allotment of apartments for the residents here. The camps were formed in the '80s to accommodate 240 Sri Lankan families who had escaped war. The population has now expanded to 724 people. With the expanded population, residents sought new housing units closer to the camp. But instead, apartments were allotted to them which are located far away from the present camp.
Speaking to TNIE, B Matthew from the Vaniyar camp said, "For the past 36 years, we have lived in the Vaniyar dam camp. Our children go to the Mullikadu government school and our dead relatives are buried near the camp. Here, we have enough space to take care of livestock, playgrounds, community hall, etc. We are extremely thankful for that. But now, allotting an apartment, which is 15 kilometres away from our current location, is distressing. We do not know if we have access to amenities there. We are accustomed to a rural lifestyle and forcing us into an apartment is unacceptable."
D Sumathi, a resident of the camp, said, "We are farming on government lands and taking care of livestock here. If we move, how will we farm and where will we keep our livestock? When we requested housing units, we requested individual units as homes, and we specified this to the officials. But despite this, we were allotted apartments. If we move to the apartment, our lives will be crippled. Most of us are mere laborers and only through livestock and cultivation can we sustain ourselves."
When TNIE reached out to C Chinna, special tahsildar of refugee camps in Dharmapuri, he said, "It is with the permission of the refugees, we have allotted them homes and now they are claiming otherwise. If they do not wish to live there the allotment could be cancelled."
