CHENNAI: More than 120 residents of Chitra Nagar in Kotturpuram were detained by police on Saturday after they staged a road blockade on Gandhi Mandapam-Kotturpuram Road, demanding allotment of houses in the newly constructed Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) tenements in the area.
The protest caused traffic disruptions for hours, prompting the city police to issue advisories on social media urging motorists to take alternative routes. The detained residents were released later in the evening around 3-4pm. Recently, the decades-old TNUHDB tenements in Kotturpuram, which housed around 1,350 families, were demolished and rebuilt with additional housing units, comprising 17 blocks - from A to Q, with around 1,800 units at an estimated cost of Rs 308 crore.
Speaking to TNIE, the residents said during the previous DMK regime, the then MLA Ma Subramanian had assured 195 families in Chitra Nagar would be allotted houses in the additional blocks, particularly in I and J blocks, once the project was completed. However, they alleged the units were instead allotted to beneficiaries from areas such as T Nagar, Saidapet, and Nandanam.
They said the 195 houses in Chitra Nagar were built in 2004, each measuring only about 140 sq ft. When TNIE visited there, the structures were in a severely dilapidated condition, with chunks of concrete falling off walls and ceilings. The residents also pointed out that the settlement is located in a flood-prone area near the Adyar river and faces inundation almost every year during heavy rains, especially when water is released from the Chembarambakkam reservoir. During the 2015 floods, the entire settlement was submerged, they said.
Anjali R (40), a resident, said they had submitted petitions to the Housing and Urban Development Minister B Rajkumar, MLA M Arul Prakasam, and the Chief Minister’s Special Cell. “We started protesting only after we saw people from other localities being allotted houses here while our demand remained pending,” she said.
The residents urged the state government to immediately allot them houses in the new tenements, citing their unsafe and deteriorating living conditions.