NEW DELHI, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Nearly two years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, many Indian survivors in the southern state of Tamil Nadu still do not have adequate housing, compounding their trauma, a report released on Friday said. Cramped bathing spaces, tiny kitchens and lack privacy for women were among the problems faced by tens of thousands of people living in temporary and permanent homes, the Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN), a local voluntary group, said. More than 7,000 people were killed when the Asian tsunami slammed into Tamil Nadu's crowded coast and tens of thousands of survivors remain without permanent homes nearly two years later. Many who were given permanent homes by social groups and the government remain unhappy, said the report. "The failure to comply with human rights standards has deepened the ... tragedy already afflicted on survivors," Miloon Kothari, U.N. Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, said at a news conference to launch the "Do Peoples' Voices Matter?' report. The situation has been made worse by the government's "ineffective" monitoring of voluntary agencies that have built houses without consulting local people on traditional living habits, the network said. The government has rejected the reports' findings. "People will look at what has not been done, rather than what has been done," C.V. Shankar, Tamil Nadu secretary for relief and rehabilitation, said, adding that in most cases, voluntary groups consulted local communities before building shelters. There are close to 10,000 temporary shelters in the state against the 33,000 set up soon after the tsunami, Shankar said. But the HLRN, whose report is strongly backed by Kothari, said the Tamil Nadu government had failed to check "glaring inadequacies in permanent housing". "It is important to hold the government accountable ... but that has not been done," said Shivani Chaudhry of the HLRN, which is part of the Habitat International Coalition. The coalition is a non-profit group of more than 450 members, groups, professional associations and academics from 80 nations fighting for adequate housing as a basic human right. In its findings, HLRN found that in southern Kanyakumari district, the tar-sheet walls of temporary shelters did not go all the way to the ceiling, "threatening women's right to privacy". Other houses had bathrooms with no room for bathing and non-ventilated kitchens which made it impossible to cook. Chaudhry said in Nagapattinam district, double-storey homes for fishermen created problems for those living on the second floor as they could not store their catch in the open. "The government is leaving it to NGOs (non-governmental organisations), raising questions of transparency, accountability and the government's commitment to adequate housing," Kothari said. Indian officials have also been slammed for failing to provide adequate housing to people in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, about 1,200 km (750 miles) from the Tamil Nadu coast. Thousands remain without proper homes after the tsunami. Last month, dozens of people were injured in clashes with police on one of the islands in the remote archipelago. The islanders were protesting against the design of permanent shelters which they say did not reflect local concerns. (Additional reporting by R. Bhagwan Singh in Chennai)
