CHENNAI: The May 17 Movement’s Tirumurugan Gandhi and R Geetha from the Unorganised Workers Federation, along with other activists, on Wednesday demanded justice for residents of Thideer Nagar and other evicted families, alleging that the State government had acted only to suit the interests of corporate giants.
“Thideer Nagar is a declared slum under the Tamil Nadu Slums Act. The people here are all labourers and mostly from oppressed and marginalised communities,” said Geetha, speaking to reporters.
Asserting that in-situ development is the only way forward for people to sustain their livelihood, Geetha said funds from the Rajiv Awas Yojana meant for the in-situ development were used to build ghettoes away from the city.
Thirumurugan Gandhi said, “ The State government acts in keeping with the interests of corporates. Why weren’t Ampa Skywalk mall or the Apollo Hospitals and ‘amma unavagam’ there removed?”
Meanwhile, Velankanni, a resident of Thideer Nagar, who also spoke at the press meet, said that some authorities spoke in a humiliatory tone at the time of eviction. “When I asked how our students will resume their studies, a junior engineer asked us whether our children would study only in ‘convent’ schools,” he said, adding that there were around 150 school students in the area.
Karen Coelho, Assistant Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), said that when the detailed project report was prepared for Cooum river restoration, the government was given an option of in-situ resettlement of the families evicted. However, the government has gone for the option of relocating all evicted families, stating that they had already built hundreds of houses elsewhere, she added.
Protest at Valluvar Kottam
Around 50 activists along with residents of evicted settlements staged a protest at Valluvar Kottam against the forced eviction on Wednesday evening. Y Arul Doss, an activist of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), said “Around 50 of us were detained for protesting.” However, plice said 27 protesters were detained and later, released in the evening. At the time of eviction on Monday, the Thideer Nagar residents resisted the move, blocking road on Monday. However, Wednesday’s protest was the first organised one after the State government agencies took up large-scale evictions under the Cooum River Restoration Project.