Fishermen seek special camps for updation of addresses in official records

Many residents of fishing hamlets in the city are finding it difficult to update records in Aadhar and other documents such as nativity certificates due to lack of proper addresses. They claim this is because the names of streets and localities are missing in the records.

Kabaddi Maran of Nochikuppam said: “We found this during our attempts to obtain nativity certificates. The State government had announced that we could get the nativity certificates without any fee as there were issues with the addresses on Aadhar and voter ID cards. When I tried changing my address, the name of my street and area were not found online. The person at the E-Seva centre said that he can update only certain details.”

Sathyan, a resident of Kovalam, said that many residents in his area faced issues due to a mismatch between old and new house numbers. “The panchayat has provided us with new house numbers, but the ID cards have old numbers. If we are to change details in our Aadhar cards, it takes over a day at the E-seva centre, and if we do not have the requisite documents, the system won’t accept the changes. We are afraid that the mismatch might affect updation of records in the SIR exercise,” he said.

The issue has arisen for families who moved from huts to apartments constructed by the Slum Clearance Board too. “We still have addresses of our huts but have now been living in these new homes for several years ow. No efforts have been taken to update online records. Postmen who come to our area are sometimes at a loss to find the correct address. We request the government to conduct special camps involving all departments in fishing hamlets allowing us to update our data online,” said K. Bharathi, local community leader.

Community leader M.D. Dayalan said such instances of addresses not being updated in official records only showed that the fishing community was being treated as ‘second class citizens’. “We are losing our identity even though we continue to be seafaring or inland fishermen. We are being clubbed with persons who are in the business of fishing,” he pointed out.