COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) plans to raze at least 4,000 houses that have been built by encroaching the 11 km Sanganoor stream, which runs in the middle of the city. In view of this, the civic body has asked the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board to allot alternative house to people who will be evicted from the canal banks to facilitate rejuvenation of the stream.
Sources in CCMC said a digital survey would be conducted to identify the number of illegal houses built on the stream.
The CCMC is renovating and developing the 11 km Sanganur stream at the cost of Rs 49 crore and the works include constructing reinforced concrete walls, laying pathways for pedestrians and paving roads on one side of the stream.
Three people who lost their homes during the rejuvenation works recently have been allotted houses in the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board tenements on Friday. Coimbatore MP Ganapathy P Rajkumar handed over the allotment order to them in the presence of collector Kranthi Kumar Pati, CCMC mayor K Ranganayaki, and commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran.
On Monday, the CCMC started work to build the basement for building gabion walls. Around 9 pm, three houses that were built by encroaching the banks of the Canal collapsed during the work. There were no casualties as the house owners had vacated the buildings a month ago after eviction notices were issued to them. However, following the outcry in the wake of the collapse, the beneficiaries have been allotted new houses.