Date:20/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/20/stories/2006042020440400.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Over 500 tsunami victims left out of voter list

Sandhya Soman

Door-to-door enumeration was done thrice at the North Chennai site, says official

CHENNAI: More than 500 persons, who were allotted houses at the tsunami-resettlement site in Ernavoor near Tiruvotriyur, do not find their names on the electoral list.

"There are over 250 families like ours which were allotted houses in phase I and our names are not there on the list," says K. Netheya, one of the displaced persons from a hamlet along Royapuram.

Kantha and M. Jayanthi from the 1st street in phase I say they got their electors photo identity card for the Tiruvotriyur Assembly constituency last month while some of their neighbours did not.

Rajendran from phase III at the Celcrete factory site in Ennore says voters from 150 families do not find their names on the list.

"We went and submitted applications last week at the Ponneri taluk office. But they said that applications will be considered when they started making lists for the next elections," he says. According to the officials, not many were there when officials came for enumeration.

"There were 2,100 houses in Kargil Vetri Nagar, where they were placed immediately after the tsunami. In the new settlement there are only 1,745 houses and many of them were locked when officials came for enumeration in December 2005," says a Revenue official. After last year's rains and subsequent flooding, phase II, consisting of nearly 600 houses, was practically abandoned.

"People started coming back only in February-March because of water logging," says Suresh of Karunalaya, a non-governmental organisation working in the area.

The official says door-to-door enumeration was done thrice at the Ernavoor site after the problem surfaced. "We brought it to the notice of the Chief Electoral Officer and issued suo motu orders to include in the draft rolls whoever was staying at Ernavoor as most of them said they would vote only in Royapuram," the official explains.