1 week Ago By Praveena S A
CHENNAI: As Samuthira, an 8-year-old girl, plays alone in the debris-covered street of Ramdoss Nagar in Moolakothalam, her laughter echoes on the empty street. She lives with her mother and sister in one of the few remaining houses in the area, as the others were demolished as part of resettlement. With electricity to the left-out houses disconnected, Samuthira could barely sleep at night.
The girl’s mother S Nagalakshmi (40) is among the at least 13 families who were left behind when over 300 families from Ramdoss Nagar and Pirivil Thottam were moved into newly built tenements by the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) in Moolakothalam in September 2024 from the corporation-owned land. Of those families left behind, seven are single women-led households. Despite claiming to have the necessary documents to prove long-term residence status in Ramdoss Nagar, these families were allegedly denied housing.
Nagalakshmi’s application was rejected allegedly because she couldn’t produce a “deserted woman certificate” to prove her husband had abandoned her six years ago, she said. “For the certificate, I have to file a complaint with the police. The police refused to file my complaint, saying it’s been years since my husband went missing,” she says.
She now lives with her two daughters, aged 8 and 10, in an abandoned structure, once occupied by a neighbour who was relocated to the tenements. She moved out of her house after it became home to many snakes. In the area, barely 13 makeshift houses remain, and is surrounded by broken walls and heaps of debris.
As per a G.O. issued by the Housing and Urban Development Department on January 25, 2022, applicants may submit Aadhaar and any ‘one’ of the following as address proof: Ration card, electricity bill, gas bill, birth certificate, or voter ID.
Yet officials insisted on only the ration card, the families said. When they produced the ration cards now, they are being told that the beneficiary contribution has risen to Rs 4.5 lakhs- three times more than the Rs 1.
5 lakh paid by their 300 other neighbours. “How can the initial scheme end after including us in the enumeration? Are they selling our houses to others?,” a resident questioned. Most of the residents are daily-wage workers, earning only Rs 300 a day or less, he said adding, paying Rs 1.
5 lakh itself is difficult, and Rs 4.5 lakh is just out of reach. With the demolition of most houses, electricity connections to their houses have been disconnected.
“We tap power from the streetlight poles,” Nagalakshmi, who works as a housekeeping staff, says. “One night, nearly a month ago, a man tried to enter our house while we were asleep. I woke up to the sound, screamed, and he fled.
” Since the power connection depends on the streetlights, they are able to use lights until 6 am after which the power automatically goes out along with the street lights. Rainy nights pose even greater risks, said R Devi (48), another resident who lives with her 13-year-old daughter, “Last week, during the rains, two snakes entered our home - they even crawled over my daughter. She had a fever for two days after that.
” Devi’s husband abandoned her when her daughter was just a year old. “Despite being part of the enumeration process, I was excluded. The reason again - no husband, no house.
” TNIE also found disabled individuals among those left behind.Water pumps in the street have been removed, leaving residents with only an exposed pipe emerging near a shallow pit. They now collect metro water in unsanitary conditions.
A daily wager Pangajam (66), who has a locomotor disability, lives with her son Raja, who has hearing impairment. They said they managed to pay Rs 10,000 as an initial contribution in September 2024 with the help of loans. “We received the payment receipt and Form 2 for allotment, but when we ask officials, they keep telling us to wait,” she said.
“Since most houses were demolished and a graveyard is located just on the opposite side, we now sleep in the tenement’s parking area because of insects and snakes.” There are two such families who, despite paying the initial beneficiary contribution, have been told to ‘wait.’ A senior official from the TNUHDB said, “We will write to the Greater Chennai Corporation to include these left-out families in the Rs 1.
5 lakh scheme. However, they noted there is currently no space available in the Moolakothalam tenement.” Meanwhile, the residents have demanded allotment to be made in Moolakothalam, as their workplace and source of livelihood are located here.
Speaking to TNIE, GCC Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran assured, “We will ensure that these families are included in the Rs 1.5 lakh scheme and are allotted houses.”.
