Friday, December 23 2005 17:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Velankanni (TN): Nearly a year after the killer tsunami claimed more than 2,000 lives in this famed church-town in Nagapattinam district besides rendering hundreds homeless, survivors still languish in temporary shelters, with authorities dragging their feet on construction of permanent dwellings citing non-availability of land.

"Since Velankanni is a crowded coastal town, we have some practical difficulties in identifying proper land to build permanent houses," says Nagapattinam District Collector J Radhakrishnan, adding that most survivors want to re-build their homes at the exact spot where they stood, which was against rules.

Most of these houses are less than 200 meters away from the coastline. According to Coastal Regulatory Zone guidelines, the government cannot rebuild such houses but can only provide houses more than 500 meters from the coast.

"However, we have not placed any restriction on the survivors for constructing houses where they initially stood, at their own expense," he says.

The tsunami survivors, on the other hand are unhappy with the administration's plan to relocate them to the interior areas, saying this would lead to loss of their livelihood.

"We have suffered a lot since the past one year. If it was the grief of losing our near and dear initially, later it turned out to be the difficulties in sustaining ourselves with the paltry relief the administration provided us," says Anslon, a local fisherman.

"The condition turned grim in the recent heavy rains as we were running around for a shelter from the downpour which our thatched temporary huts could not withstand. The rains have eased now, but not the sea, which is turning rougher by the day," he says.

Fishermen say the assistance provided by the NGOs was the only life saver for them during the rains as many of them were provided food for days together when they could seldom move out of their water-logged surroundings.

"If we are relocated away from the shore, we will not be able to go fishing. There is no point in relocating us to the interiors," says Kuttiyaandi, another fisherman at a temporary shelter here.

"We are scared of the chances of another tsunami, but we have to stay here. This has been our land for years. How can we fisher folk leave the coast and settle in the interiors?" he asks.

More than 100 shopkeepers in the area also have the same grouse against the administration, which they say is trying to relocate them to a far off area by terming their shops as illegal encroachments.

"Our business will suffer if we relocate to the interiors as we solely depend on the pilgrims and tourists for our survival. Even after the death of 57 traders here, we mustered the courage to rebuild these shops and resume business. Now the administration is trying to move us away under the garb of tsunami rehabilitation," says Johnson, a fancy stall owner.