CHENNAI: Around 50 young women staying at a hostel at West Saidapet are stranded on the streets with their belongings locked inside after Greater Chennai Corporation locked and sealed their hostel building on Monday.
The students and working women, who live at the hostel are aged between 18 and 28, and hail from across the State. “My clothes, certificates and money are locked inside and all of us had to stuff ourselves into another small property owned by the landlord,” said a 23-year-old woman adding that she could not go to work as her belongings were stuck inside.
Many women who stay at the hostel claimed that they had left either for work or college when officials from the corporation arrived around 10 am on Monday. “We did not even get enough time to call the girls who had left the building to come back and fetch their things. They chased us out and we had no time to vacate,” said another working woman who stays there.
The landlord, who runs the hostel, was first served a lock-and-seal notice on July 20 by officials from the corporation in Zone 10 (Kodambakkam). Officials sent a de-occupation notice dated August 28, ordering the landlord to vacate the place within 15 days of receipt of the notice. The lock-and-seal order comes following the discovery on unauthorised construction and deviation from CMDA approved plan in the hostel.
The landlord, had, however simultaneously applied for approval under the regularisation scheme. “The person who sold us the property had paid the required fine in October, 2000 itself and applied for regularisation. However, the regularisation has still not come through. So on August 31, after we were served the de-occupation notice, we appealed to CMDA to grant regularisation using the bills for the fines we had paid,” said M Kalyani, the landlord.
CMDA had rejected the appeal on September 20 and said it’s decision could be re-appealed within 30 days. However, before the re-appeal was made, the hostel was sealed. The young women at the hostel claim that they were not informed in advance about the lock-and-seal notice. “They directly came and locked the place in half-an-hour. We did not get enough time to even take our clothes outside. Only a handful of girls were able to pack their things, the rest were not there,” said another working woman staying at the hostel.
Kalyani alleged that their building was targeted among others, as they opposed the construction of a corporation community hall coming in front of their building, blocking their access. “We asked them to ensure that they made enough space for an entry and they are targeting us because of that. Other buildings with violations have not been sealed,” she said.
A zonal corporation official, however, argued that all notices were served on time and that the landlords had not informed the women about the lock-and-seal notice. “We even personally informed the warden on Sunday night that the place will be sealed the next day,” the officials said.
“We are not able to explain the reason of our absence at work. Our employer does not believe that our hostel was sealed. We can’t keep taking leave any longer,” said another girl staying at the hostel fearing that the building might be demolished with her documents and belongings locked inside. “We simply want to be allowed to take our documents and certificates,” she said.
Without warning
Around 50 women, mostly students and working professionals, stayed at a hostel at West Saidapet
Officials from Greater Chennai Corporation locked and sealed their hostel building
But the action came without warning, which literally left many with nowhere to go, with most of their personal belongings stuck inside the hostel
Many were at work or college when officials arrived to seal the building