From frying pan to fire

The anger is palpable. They are tired and defeated, but what is hurting them the most is the step-motherly treatment being meted out in India.

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees at the Goomdipoondi camp, about 45 km away from Chennai on Nellore Road, feel violated. “Why are we being targeted for being Sri Lankan Tamils? We fled our country as we could not withstand the torture of the Lankan army. But here in India, we are being treated like untouchables by the local people,” a refugee said, his otherwise-tired eyes flashing with anger.

The camp was set up in 1990 when there was an exodus of refugees from the warring nation. The camp was temporarily shifted to East Coast Road (ECR), which is closer to Chennai. However, with ECR developing as a tourist attraction because of its natural beauty, the camp was shifted to Goomdipoondi in 1992.

“We were an eyesore for the government, so they moved us back to this godforsaken place,” the refugee said.

The camp occupies about one acre of land adjacent to a railway track about 1 km away from the main township. “Each family was provided a 10 feet by 10 feet accommodation with tin roofs. Irrespective of the size of families, each family was eligible for just one hutment. The tin sheets used to melt during summer. During monsoon, the wind would blow them off. We have now made alternate arrangements,” another refugee said.

The Goomdipoondi camp is one of the biggest in Tamil Nadu after the main camp at Mandapam where refugees arrive via Rameshwaram as it is closest to Sri Lanka. It accommodates about 1,900 families, comprising men, women and children in the age group of 1-74. “There is a co-educational school with classes till the eighth standard. Some of the boys and girls studied further in other nearby educational institutions. But later they did not get jobs as they are Sri Lankans,” camp inmates said.

The government provides every adult an interim amount of Rs258 per month and 12 kg of rice. “The rice is provided at the whims and fancies of the person in charge of distributing the ration. If we argue with him, he says ‘take it or leave it’. We are not eligible for Indian government jobs nor do we find employment in the private sector.

Though Goomdipoondi is an emerging industrial hub in Tamil Nadu, jobs are difficult to come by,” another refugee said.

“With great difficulty some of us find jobs as temporary labourers in the steel and iron factories. That way we earn around Rs150 to Rs200 per day. Otherwise, we have to make do with the subsistence allowance of Rs258 per month that we get from the government. We remain confined to our colony as we are looked upon with suspicion  by the local people simply because we are Sri Lankans,” rued camp inmates.