Tamils returning from Dharavi feel unwelcome

Three decades ago, 52-year-old Jeyakumar, a native of Panagudi village in Tirunelveli, made Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum in the heart of Mumbai, his home. But now Covid-19 is driving away hundreds of Tamils like him back to their roots in Tamil Nadu. And in the midst of the pandemic, many of them are not welcomed back home.
Dharavi, often touted as a tiny Tamil Nadu, accounts for more than 1,500 cases of Covid-19. The fear of contracting the infection coupled with job loss and poor sanitation is sending people back to their native villages. So far, more than 700 people, who returned from Maharashtra, have tested positive for Covid-19 in TN.
The death of his friend shook Jeyakumar, a school clerk, so much that he decided to return home. “My friend died of Covid-19. His wife and children were not able to see him for one last time. I didn’t want this to happen to anyone, including my family,” he said. His family along with 26 others paid Rs 1.60 lakh to return to TN by bus.
On arrival, they stayed in a government school near Valliyur for a day, after which they were advised home quarantine. But Jeyakumar said the situation in the village was not conducive to their return. “So we decided to stay in a relative’s poultry farm outside the village,” he told TOI.
A few families, who came along with Jeyakumar are facing humiliation and are fighting social stigma since they returned home in Pallikulam, Kavalkinaru and Nanguneri in the district. “We are being treated as unwanted, or labelled as carriers of the virus. It is nothing but discrimination,” said another man on condition of anonymity.
Those stranded in Mumbai are battling poor living conditions. Having an individual toilet is considered a privilege in Dharavi where 80% of the population use common toilets, said Mumbai-based advocate Manjula Kathirvel, a native of Ka Puthur in Cuddalore.
Physical distancing impossible in the slum. “Health officials are taking away the people who test positive for Covid-19, but their family members and relatives are advised home quarantine. But we run into one another as we have to use common toilets. It is the perfect recipe for the cluster to grow,” said 32-yearold Francis, who works for a courier service in Mumbai.
Many employers have told Dharavi residents to stay away from workplaces for another two months. “My brother-in-law is working as a driver on a contract basis at the Mumbai airport for a monthly salary of Rs 25,000. Though flight operations resumed, his employer asked him not to come to work for the next two months,” said T Velumurugan, who lives in a tenement built under the slum rehabilitation project in Dharavi.
Sivakumar, a cashier in a hotel, said: “We want to return home. I tried for e-pass to travel to TN with my family but it was rejected twice,” said Sivakumar of Vaigaikulam in Tuticorin.