The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : The homeless worst-hit

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Friday, Dec 21, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

The homeless worst-hit

J. Malarvizhi

“Chennai has about 54,000 people living on pavements”

— PHOTO: M.KARUNAKARAN.

THE MISERABLE LOT: Pavement and hut dwellers have borne the brunt of the rain. A view of the huts along the Cooum in the Pudupet area in Chennai on Thursday.

CHENNAI: The brief respite from the rain on Thursday allowed pavement and hut dwellers across the city to spread out soaked belongings in available sunlit spots. While the Chennai Corporation has started undertaking relief work, social workers point out the need for permanent measures such as short-stay homes or dormitories that the homeless can turn to in such times.

Skin problems and insect bites are other problems that the homeless have to deal with.

Ramesh, 34, from the south of the State, is in the city for a few months and used to grab a few hours of sleep on the bridge over the Cooum next to the Choolaimedu signal. That was until the rain came. “If it is the mosquitoes one season, it’s rain the next,” he says, “that’s how the life of the poor is.”

The thresholds of commercial establishments partly shading them from the elements are the sought-after places during the rains.

Some even seek out the undersides of bridges, he said.

For Shanti, with three children below the age of 10, the bridge provides space to lie down in the open air. The cramped hut they live in has scarcely any space for a family of five to sleep in.

However, with no other option during the rain, they plug the roof with whatever plastic sheets they can find and try to sleep inside. “I have to get up several times a night to adjust the sheet and prevent water from flowing in,” she rues.

A survey carried out by Action Aid International in 2003 estimated that Chennai had about 54,000 people living on the pavement with families — these are the homeless without even huts to call their own. They live almost perpetually on the move with their few belongings always bundled, ready to move at short notice. The organisation is attempting to rally some of the homeless under the banner of Engal Chennai Pavement Dwellers Federation.

Police harassment and abuse from owners of private property near which they stay are common. Their lives are significantly impacted by an inability to prepare their own food, especially during rain, a representative of Action Aid. This means that they have to pick up food from roadside eateries, putting them at risk of other diseases caused by a lack of hygiene.

The heads of non-governmental organisations concede that more facilities are available for children, with several organisations offering rehabilitation programmes or short-stay homes for street children.

There are very few facilities allowing the homeless with families to sleep with a roof over their heads during the rains.

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