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A story of neglect
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The residents of Santosh Nagar continue to live amid the health hazards that a stinking Buckingham canal poses -- mosquitoes, unbearable stench and a poor sewer system. GOUTAM GHOSH writes about their pitiful condition.
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SANTOSH NAGAR, one of the many such areas in our burgeoning metropolis, is close to Kandan Chavadi off Old Mahabalipuram Road. It has the Buckingham Canal along its eastern edge. Both the canal banks now have houses and huts sheltering hundreds of families. The bridge across the canal is so narrow that two cyclists can barely ride abreast without knocking each other down. Planks have been bolted to the steel frame — the trestles — that dig into the black, stinking, viscous mass that seems to have been frozen by decades of carelessness.
You cannot miss the PET bottles peeking out of the opaque surface. There are tufts of grass almost covering the knotted disposable bags loaded with rubbish; half-sunk tin cans, broken slippers, paper lumps and biodegradable kitchen waste — all allowed the freedom to survive on this dark mass. It is so viscous that you may wonder if a bottle of mercury will sink to the bottom.
There is a trickle of grey fluid, which has cut ravines in the semi-solid waste but its journey is impeded by tall grass and weeds that thrive on the nauseating mess.
The shops closest to the wood-plank bridge are 10m away on both sides. ``The stench is strong. Even though we are used to it, it can hit hard suddenly. And the closer you are to the mess, the stronger is the smell,'' said an aged shopkeeper who runs a phone booth on Mariammai Road across the bridge.
Despite the mess and the stench, there are two rows of houses running along the west of the canal bank, and one on the east.
Even though the colony on the east is closer to the East Coast Road, one wonders why there are more residents on the west. The explanation is quick. ``Old Mahabalipuram Road was the only route to Mahabalipuram once upon a time. So there are more houses to the west,'' said a resident.
But Mr Srirangan, president, Buckingham Canal Residents Welfare Association, said, ``The patta land is farther from the canal on the west than on the east. So more people have built houses on the poromboke land they bought.''
Poromboke land they bought? How can poromboke land be bought unless assigned by the revenue authorities? But it can be encroached upon, as canal banks have been in Chennai. ``It does not come free. We had to pay Rs.5,000 to Rs.15,000 for each of these plots to politicians. And we now pay the power charges, the telephone bills and the property tax,'' said a group of residents.
Property tax receipt shows that it is a fine imposed on encroachers but which in a way regularises the encroachment. But poromboke land along waterways cannot be occupied, said a senior official of the PWD department. ``So it is just a matter of time before these people are evicted,'' the official said.
A group of women in Santosh Nagar said, ``We have been living here for over 40 years. We were born here. Now we are married and have our families. Our children go to local schools. We will not leave this place.''
The poor, as everywhere else, tend to get a raw deal. Not only have the residents of Santosh Nagar cast into uncertainty whatever little they had saved but also they have no choice but to live amid the health hazards that a stinking canal poses — mosquitoes, asphyxiating stench and a poor sewer system. In fact, every house has its toilet pipe emptying into the canal.
``We are willing to redirect the pipes if the Government lays sewer lines, but when we don't have such a system, what do we do?'' asks one of them.
A baby that slept on the shoulders of its young mother was covered with pink dots all over. Mosquito bites. Obviously the parents could not afford the fancy but dangerous allethrin-based mosquito repellents available in the market.
If the Government was really intent on removing these helpless people, where will they go? ``There is talk of providing us accommodation in Okkiyam Thoraipakkam, but what they plan to give is a tenth of what we have. How can a family of four live in a 80 sq.ft. tenement?'' asked a housewife.
``We will never leave this place,'' said everyone. The people's representative tended to be more rhetorical and louder than the rest. ``We will fast unto death,'' he said. But he can't be blamed for choosing and religiously practising his vocation — politics.
What is needed is a set of steps that can improve the quality of life of these people. In the first place, a sewer line to channel the fecal waste instead of adding to the sullage load of Buckingham Canal. Secondly, dredging the canal to restore the flow of water.
The residents are encroachers no doubt but they are no less human than you or I, even though many of them may be living in sub-human conditions.
They may be temporary residents in the eyes of the Government, but many of them have been so for 40 years or more. Evicting them is a question of political priority qualified by political convenience.
Once that priority is defined and pursued, it will be a question of a long-drawn judicial process. The Government is most likely to win. But then that may be after many years. Just because these people are temporary residents should not disqualify them from small relief they deserve as human beings.
Given the unbelievable sums of money the Government wastes every year, simple measures to improve the quality of life of these virtually voiceless people may not be wasted resources even if they are to be relocated elsewhere in the long run.
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