CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) has agreed to accommodate the families that are being evicted from Padikuppam near Rail Nagar, at the TNSCB settlement in Athipattu, as per the residents’ demands. Many among the 221 families, who were enumerated for eviction, had appealed to the Board to give them tenements at Athipattu instead of Navalur.
While the tenements are usually allotted in Perumbakkam, Gudapakkam, Navalur, and AIR land (Tiruvottriyur), exceptions have been made for a fifth scheme at Athipattu, perhaps for the first time, under the Cooum River Eco-Restoration Project of the Chennai River Restoration Trust (CRRT).
On Saturday, re-allotment orders were given to 42 families while another 60 families will also receive orders to move to Athipattu, said officials. Residents had asked for Athipattu because of its proximity to Koyambedu market where most of them work.
“The families that are willing to go to Navalur have been taken there but others will be accommodated at Athipattu. However, the tenements under construction will be ready only by March next year. Until then, the residents said they were willing to wait and find an alternative,” said an official who did not want to be named. The orders were issued under the instructions of TNSCB MD R Kirlosh Kumar, the official said.