CHENNAI: More than 25 families who were living along the banks of the Cooum River on Mayor Ramanathan Salai were evicted by the Water Resources Department (WRD), as part of the Cooum River Restoration Project on Tuesday. Most of these families belong to the Betta Kurumbar community, which was recently declared as Scheduled Tribes, who sell bamboo products.
Their makeshift houses including tarpaulin sheets were pushed into the river and the bamboo products were dumped on the pavement during the eviction drive. All the families, along with small children, were forced to sit on the pavements as eviction was carried out without providing them alternative accommodation. “We have been living here for more than 40 years now.
Our parents migrated from Andhra Pradesh. Our livelihood depends on doing business on this road,” said P Raja, a resident. The residents alleged that the officials often take away their belongings, including knives used to make furniture and other finished items, during eviction drives. “Officials demand bribes to allow us to do business here. While we have applied for ration cards and Aadhaar Cards, but we haven’t received them yet. We only have voter identity cards.
Despite being a marginalised community, we also can’t get any benefits since we were denied community certificates,” said a resident on condition of anonymity. “Evicting vulnerable families without alternate accommodation, during exams, confiscating belongings, smashing water pots and leaving women and children without shelter is a human rights violation,” said Vanessa Peter, founder of the Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC).
Meanwhile, officials said a meeting was held between residents and various departments. “There were problems in allotting houses for them since the residents don’t have address proof. During the meeting, they told us they would provide necessary documents in a few days after which their request will be considered,” said an official.