It was past 6 pm on Tuesday, August 3 and Begumbibi was seated on her scooter having just returned from work. The 41-year-old is employed as a domestic worker in Chennai’s Anna Nagar. Just last week, she and her family were resettled to a government allotted apartment at KP Park in Pulianthope from Arumbakkam along the Cooum river bank. She used to walk to work before, now she needs to spend money on fuel.
“The apartment is really nice but we have to see if we can afford to live here,” said Begumbibi, who is using her son’s sooter for her commute. “It cost me Rs 50 in petrol to commute today. In a month that will cost me Rs 1,500 just on travel,” she said, calculating. Working at two houses, Begumbibi says she earns Rs 8,000 a month and supports her husband and her youngest son. Every paise of the Rs 1,500 spent on fuel counts in her household.
As part of the Cooum river eco-restoration project, the Tamil Nadu government had planned to resettle 268 families from Arumbakkam to KP Park. The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) has built 1,056 apartments, of which about 663 have been dedicated to families affected by the project. Costing Rs 2,371 crore, the eco-restoration project involves setting up 10 Interception & Diversion (I&D) systems along the river and three modular Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) at Chetpet, College Road and Maduravoyal.
The families being resettled from Arumbakkam, which is expected to become a site for an STP, feel uprooted from their comfort zones and thrown into economic chaos. Some have already suffered financially due to the pandemic. At Arumbakkam, the women from these families found work as domestic workers and the men worked as fruit and vegetable sellers or drove autorickshaws. The resettlement has impacted their ease of access to these economic avenues.
Almost every family that TNM spoke to among the 103 new residents at KP Park is readjusting finances and figuring out the commute. Kabir sells fruits on a push cart but hasn’t been to work since he moved to his new apartment last week. When he resided at Arumbakkam, he used to wake up at 3 am and go to the Koyambedu market, a short distance away, with his cart to buy fruits at competitive rates. Since moving to KP Park, he hasn’t stepped out to sell fruits. The Koyambedu market is now 13 km away. Pushing a cart to the market and trying to sell fruits all day on the streets of Anna Nagar and then returning home to KP Park doesn’t make sense to him anymore. “I’ll have to wake up early and push the cart for more distance,” said Kabir. “I’ll have to find something else to sell,” he added.
Selvam, an auto driver who is tied to an auto union at Anna Nagar, said it is costing him dearly riding up and down to the auto stand. Preethi, who used to support her family doing tailoring, said she has lost all her customers and has to try and find new ones now.
“It’s easier for people who have a vehicle to commute to Anna Nagar and back, but what will people like us who have no vehicle do?” asked Suja* a resident of the 5th floor who works as a domestic worker and did not wish to be identified. “We have to rely on buses,” she added.
Suja said she has identified three buses to Anna Nagar – 59, 159, 159A and 159E – but most of these are deluxe buses. Free travel for women on buses was announced by Chief Minister MK Stalin in May, however the ordinary buses which are free for women are not frequent along this route, said the women at KP Park. “So we have to take the deluxe buses and pay for the commute. Earlier we could just walk to work,” said Suja, who earns Rs 4,000 for her work at one home. Her husband, a construction worker, has been out of work since the pandemic began last year. “Every paisa counts, I have a daughter and want to give her a good education,” she added.
Most women who were resettled from Arumbakkam – like Begumbibi, Suja and others – are engaged in domestic work. They say their biggest concern is being laid off. “The house where I work has senior citizens. They expressed concern that I might be exposed to the virus as I travel in crowded buses to get to their place and cook for them. I’m a little scared that I will be replaced,” said Suja.
Similar concerns were raised by Tracy* on the eighth floor. “I have taken leave for 10 days but I’m not sure of returning to work. I don’t think the commute is practical,” she said. She is also unsure if she can find work as a domestic worker in and around Pulianthope, a new locality for the tenants. “We don’t even know where the nearest ration shop is. We are all registered at the ration shop at Arumbakkam,” said Tracy, who added that the new locality is not as well developed for all the women to find work. “We have to see if there are any nearby residential areas where we can find work. This is a new area for us, we’ll need years of networking to find leads for domestic work,” she added.
It’s past 6.30 pm and Preethi is exhausted after her commute from Anna Nagar where she is employed as a domestic worker. She wants to rest but the door to her apartment on the eighth floor is locked from the inside. Her husband is fast asleep inside and the apartment has no calling bell. None of the apartments do. The residents have to pay and fix one themselves. “We lost everything during the 2015 floods, so in a way I’m happy that we have moved here. The bell doesn’t matter,” Preethi smiled. “There are no snakes here that I have to worry about, but it’s tiring to commute and we have additional walking to do,” she said as she continued knocking on the door.
The women said they have to walk a little to catch the bus to Anna Nagar and hoped that the buses would stop near their apartment complex. The one-hour bus commute doesn’t get easy once they reach their destination of DG Vaishnav College. “The bus doesn’t stop at the college. To get to the college, we have to get down one stop before or after and walk to work from there. We lose time commuting, if we keep going late for work, we risk getting replaced,” Preethi said. The residents do not know whom to reach out to with their grievances.
* Name changed