CHENNAI: Over a year after the Tamil Nadu government assured houses within the city for residents evicted from Govindasamy Nagar near Mylapore, more than 100 families are yet to be allotted new homes. Worse, the families have been left in the dark as to when the houses might be available.
Officials at the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) told TNIE that the projects in which the houses will be allotted are still under construction. They did not say when they would be ready.
Meanwhile, the 110 families are struggling to pay the monthly rent required to stay in the city. Many who had stored their belongings in the board’s tenements in Navalur, with officials’ permission, also said their things had been removed or stolen.
The Public Works Department conducted evictions at Govindasamy Nagar last May, forcibly displacing nearly 300 families to tenements in Perumbakkam, Navalur, Kannagi Nagar and other sites far outside the city.