Thiruvananthapuram: Y Lawrence still in search of a roof

Thiruvananthapuram: Life is a series of Catch-22s at Rajaji Nagar. No one knows it better than Y. Lawrence, who should have been allotted an apartment in the first phase of the project, aimed at rehabilitating the slum residents in the heart of the capital city. He continues to live in a rented apartment even as the corporation has completed four phases. The recent the High Court verdict which ordered that he be one of the first allotees in the fifth phase of development has not made his life better, for many hold Mr Lawrence’s case to be the reason why the corporation has not regularised their houses.

Following Mr Lawrence's complaint in 2011, many others also filed cases. "Someone had to. It was unfair to single me out for that," he says. However construction on the fifth phase has not started. “The construction is not moving forward because the fifth phase needs to come up at Asarikkudi. Now where would the people living there go?” asks Mr Lawrence. It’s Catch-22 again. Mr Lawrence, who works as a nursing assistant with the Health Department, visits the colony daily as his 97-year old bed-ridden mother lives here in one of the temporary sheds. Their family has been living in that shed since 1975, the year when the project was rolled out.

Officials had to identify beneficiaries based on the voters’ list. “But the decisions were based on allegiance to political parties, starting from the first phase,” says Mr Lawrence. He says that while eligible beneficiaries like him are yet to get a house, there are families which have been allotted four houses, one for each child. Some, who have left the colony, were also allotted houses. There were less than 300 houses in the colony back then. The government had kept a target of housing for 600 families. “Recently the Corporation conducted a survey and stated that there are 971 families in the colony. The actual number would be 1,032,” says Mr Lawrence.