NCPCR finds lack of facilities at Perumbakkam resettlement site

The inspection was held after a complaint by the Housing and Land Rights Network and the Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC). The complaint raised questions regarding the safety of the children and also mentioned that they were evacuated during exam time without prior notice, said Dr RG Anand, member of the NCPCR. Observing that there is no security for the children due inadequate facilities, he made a recommendation to bring nationalised school in the locality. “I have also alerted the local police to take more care and they have been cooperative. The proposal also includes construction of hospitals as there is only one clinic with three rooms for 5400 people. There are norms that the primary health centre should have a nurse and two doctors. However, it is not followed here. These recommendations will be sent to the Ministry of Women and Child Development.”

The 400-odd families, who had moved to Perumbakkam from Navalar Nedunchezhian Nagar, were facing practical difficulties. “The resettlement site is located almost 22 kilometres away from their original place of habitation,” the complaint said.

“There is only one primary school and a higher secondary school for nearly 16,000 children. The primary school continues to function in a tenement constructed for residential purposes. The children, even after relocation, continue to go to their schools near the original sites of habitation, commuting a daily distance of 44 kilometres due to lack of facilities. The complaint also highlighted there weren’t enough playgrounds or toilets and the forced resettlement was against the United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement,” Vanessa Peter from the IRCDUC pointed out.