COIMBATORE: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has issued a notice to the Coimbatore collector seeking an explanation for the delay in allotting houses to 12 Dalit families who were evicted from Kumarasamy Colony in 2020, to facilitate the smart city scheme.
The families claimed that despite the district administration giving them an allotment letter for an alternate housing facility in Integrated Urban Development Project (IUDP) Units in Selvapuram in Coimbatore, they have not got any facility so far. They submitted a petition to the NCSC, which in turn sent notices to the collector and managing director of Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board in Chennai seeking an explanation for the delay.
“Over 700 families on Thadagam Road in Kumarasamy colony were evicted when the smart city scheme work began in 2020. More than 600 families have got housing under IUDP and moved to allotted houses. But, TNSCB is yet to allocate houses to 12 families despite them getting allotment letter as well,” said S Purusothaman, a petitioner.
“We visited the Executive Engineer Office of TNSCB and MD of TNUHDB in Chennai several times, but houses were not allocated to us so far. Meanwhile, officials said they would allot houses in Ezhil Nagar unit, which will be completed in two more years,” he added. When contacted, Jaganathan, Executive Engineer of TNSCB, said they will take a decision after consulting the collector.