Chennai colony residents have no toilet, no power and live in the open
Chennai: Living in a metropolis like Chennai and that too in a constituency that was represented by a powerful Chief Minister like J. Jayalalithaa has made no difference to their lives for nearly a quarter century. These 800 families lack basic sanitation facilities like toilet, power connection, drinking water and a proper roof over their heads.
Tucked deep inside the under-developed VOC Nagar in Washermenpet area in North Chennai, their small colony looks like a primitive village where a toilet and a bottle of safe drinking water will be deemed as a luxury. Both men and women, including school children, are forced to walk at least 500 metres from their “houses” to relieve themselves. And only 100 out of nearly 1,000 children in the locality step into the nearby school run by Chennai corporation.
The ‘star’ status attached to RK Nagar constituency has not helped them improve their economic status or living conditions. In fact, the locality bore the brunt of 2015 Chennai floods, 2016 Cyclone Vardah and the recent oil spill in the Bay of Bengal.
And, neither officials nor lawmakers visited the locality even once after the ferocious winds of Vardah took away most of its thatched houses, say residents.
A wooden door, broken walls and things scattered all over - this is how these 800 families live every day. Since there is no proper power supply, they are forced to steal electricity from nearby electric poles and transformers. Jayalalithaa promised them better living conditions when she was elected from the constituency in 2015, but before things could settle down, she passed away.
“Life is like hell here. We have been living here for the past 25 years and nothing has improved in our locality. There are no streetlights and toilets in the locality.
We have to walk 500 metres to attend to nature's call. The worst part is even girl children are forced to defecate in the open,” S. Machakkanthi, a resident of the locality in VOC Nagar, told Deccan Chronicle.
Their houses are so small that children don't even find enough space to store their books. “This is one of the main reasons why we don't send our children to school. Where will they study and where will they do their homework? Life is not easy for us like others. Sometimes, we don't even get power to charge our basic model mobile phones,” another resident D. Saritha said.
The people living in the colony also complain that they have not yet received compensation from the government due to the damages they had suffered during Vardah and oil spill. “No government official has come to our locality. We have not got any relief from the government ever since we came here. We have been a neglected lot and continue to be so,” Machakkanthi said.
Sasi Rekha, a 12-year-old girl, says it is quite difficult for young girls like her to live in such horrible conditions. “Horrible is the word to describe the living condition. We live sans any bare minimum basic facilities for humans to live in this modern world. We have a school to go for whatever it is worth, what we need is toilets at home. We are scared for our safety when we got out to relieve ourselves in the open,” she said.
