Most Cooum river rehab scheme families denied monthly doles

A survey, undertaken by the Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC), sampled 228 of the rehabilitated families, which forms 10 per cent. The survey was part of a study on the access to Resettlement and Rehabilitation Package (R&R).

Under ICRERP, an individual is entitled to Rs 5,000 as shifting allowance and Rs 2,500 per family, per month for one year. But only one per cent of the families has received all 12 months’ payment.

As many as 59 families (25.9 per cent) haven’t received the subsistence allowance as on date. A whopping 85 per cent of the families (143 families) have received the monthly subsistence allowance only once in six months.

Sixty per cent (136 families) of those who have received the sustenance allowance have received only six months’ payments. Nearly 26 per cent (59 families) have not received a single payment despite follow up with the officials of the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB).

Talking to DT Next, Vanessa Peter, policy researcher of IRCDUC, said that subsistence allowances help reduce the negative impact of resettlement, as many must have lost livelihoods. “However, a delay or the lack of allowances increases their vulnerability. We saw case studies where people who were receiving it once in six months were taking up loans from moneylenders at exorbitant rates. Issues concerning bank accounts have also been highlighted with accounts being opened in branches as far as Mambalam, while the same bank had a branch in Sholinganallur nearby. This is despite them having bank accounts already. Some of them have received cash cards and not their passbooks or chequebooks, causing a great deal of difficulty,” she added.

The residents in the resettlement area have also been facing difficulty in getting their grievances redressed as they could reach out to only the engineers of the TNSCB.