All through her teens, G Priya toiled as a
bonded labourer
at a brick kiln in Vellore, seeing no way out for herself or her family. In 2015, came a ray of hope when she and her family were rescued by govt officials and
resettled
with a house on the 15-acre campus of Abdul Kalam Puram at Meesanallur village in Tiruvannamalai district. Things have been looking up since, says the 29-year-old, whose family was one of 100 rescued bonded labourers given permanent housing in the community living space.
Meesanallur is today more than just a social
housing project
.
It has become a model for
rehabilitation
.
In the past decade, the rescued labourers at Meesanallur, who are from the Irular community — classified under particularly vulnerable tribal groups — have been upskilled and employed in various cottage industries in the hamlet. Some have even been trained to start their own businesses and are joint owners of brick kilns and wood workshops as well as charcoal and paper bag-making units.
Priya works at a sanitary napkin manufacturing unit, jointly run with 23 other rescued women. “We sell our products under the brand ‘Vaagai’,” she says, adding that they have started receiving orders from Lotus Footwear in SIPCOT for 40,000 pads. “We are now acquiring a BIS certificate for our product and are looking at ways to improve our marketing,” says Priya.
While most rehabilitation exercises across India focus on providing rescued labourers with an alternate livelihood, they do not provide a permanent residence, due to which many cannot avail of govt benefits. The Meesanallur project is one of the few that provides a viable
livelihood
and permanent residences.
All the houses here are uniform in size and appearance. The one BHK houses are fitted with solar panels for smaller electric equipment and a biogas plant for cooking. Drinking water pipelines have been laid and street lights fixed in the smart housing colony. The hamlet also has a park for children, a community hall and an anganwadi (crèche/ daycare centre).
“There are no instances of rescued bonded labourers returning to their old lives even after the Meesanallur project was initiated,” says P Muniappan, president of the Rescued Bonded Labourers Association. “Our association is working with the govt to ensure this does not happen. Govt ID cards such as Aadhaar, ration and voter ID are being provided so they get all the benefits due to them.”
There is a school nearby for students up to Class VIII but they have to go to other villages and towns such as Thellar, Nadukuppam and Vandavasi for higher secondary education. “We have 100 children enrolled in the school here,” says Muniappan. “What we need from the govt is transport for students, especially girls studying from Class XI and Class XII who have to travel some distance for school.”
However, only a handful of youngsters from Meesanallur have joined colleges. “In my community, girls are married off at a very young age which is why I am determined to get a job immediately after I get my degree,” says Deepika, among the few from the village who are in college. “Maybe I will inspire other parents to allow their children to go to college.”
The project was started immediately after the 2015 floods, when it was found that the homes of Irulas living near waterbodies had been washed away, says Tiruvallur collector T Prabhushankar, who was the sub-collector of Tiruvannamalai in 2015, and helped get the project off the ground. “Funds for constructing houses were sought from Union govt under the tribal welfare scheme.” In the first phase, about 50 houses were built, and then the project was stalled. The project was restarted in 2019 by Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation Limited MD P K Kandasamy, who took over as collector of Tiruvannamalai (and is now spread across about 40 acres and expanded to more than 100 families). “Though they had housing, we found unemployment was a problem they encountered, which was why we established cottage industries here,” says Kandasamy. “Community members were trained and assigned to industries based on skills. We have new ventures in the pipeline, among them is training women in tailoring. We plan to get orders for stitching govt uniforms.”
Resettling is a social transition, where families must adapt to a new way of life, says Prince Solomon Devadass, associate professor and field work coordinator of social work at Madras Christian College, who helped with the transition to community living.
“Despite ready houses, some of the families did not want to move, one reason being the deep bond Irulars have with their ancestral land, often regardless of legal ownership, as it connects them to their ancestors’ spirits.”
Devadass adds that social discrimination against the community as ‘snakecatchers’ makes it hard for them to trust outsiders. “Rather than imposing urban standards, we need to tailor designs to their norms. For example, houses should feel familiar, with slanting roofs mimicking thatched ones, and verandahs for communal gatherings or elders to rest, which is something the community is familiar with. Social housing projects need to take into consideration a community’s unique way of life.”
English (US) ·