The Punarjani Cultural Society for the welfare of transgender individuals has alleged that the Social Justice Officer was trying to sabotage the proposed short-stay-cum-care-home for transwomen in the district.
Sisily George, president of Punarjani, said here on Friday that the short-stay home was supposed to be a shelter for only transwomen who have been in distress and a care home for those who have undergone sex reassignment surgery. “We had identified a building at Chevarambalam, just 5 km from the city. The consent letter of the owner was sent to the State TG Cell, based on which Punarjani, the implementing agency for the project, was granted ₹5.83 lakh to set up the home,” she said.
However, the department has identified another building in Feroke, 20 km from the city. “We petitioned the District Collector who talked to the Social Justice Officer, but in vain,” Ms. George said.
The society feels that it may lose the project due the alleged heavy handedness of the Social Justice Officer. “The department has only a monitoring role in the project. But here they are interfering unnecessarily”, Ms. George complained. She was accompanied by Ashitha, Kanchana and Bhavana, all members of the society. Punarjani has warned of strong protest measures at the collectorate if the issue was not resolved soon.
Meanwhile, the District Social Justice Officer, Sheeba Mumtaz, denied the allegations, stating that the building in Feroke was finalised even before the proposal for the one in Chevarambalam was submitted. “We cannot sabotage any project like that. On the other hand, we have taken extra efforts to ensure its implementation”, she said. “By taking it to the outskirts of the city, we wanted to avoid any possible issues from the local people. However, if there is any practical problem, we can always change it after 11 months”, she said.
The State government has sanctioned three short-stay homes in the State, at Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode. While the home in Thiruvananthapuram is for transmen, the other two are for transwomen. The management of the homes has been entrusted to three community-based organisations, with the Social Justice Department as a monitoring agency.