CHENNAI: Around 100 families living on Station road in Korattur have been rendered homeless with no alternative arrangements.
This is due to a ‘hasty eviction’ by revenue officials, according to residents of the area. Officers from Tiruvallur district, with the help of police, have been razing buildings down since Friday continuing on to Saturday.
According to residents in the area whose houses have been razed to the ground, the eviction drive is illegal, as an appeal is still pending in the Supreme Court. The residents claim they have been living in that area for more than five decades.
“These plots were approved by the CMDA in 1993 for a Slum Clearance Board project. Subsequently, we asked the board for a sale deed. Officials, who until 2005 were saying that our appeal is pending, are now talking otherwise,” K Chamundeeswari, a resident said.
A flower vendor is among the few whose house has been spared. Revenue officials, however, told Express that the remaining houses will also be razed after a hearing on February 12.
Attempts by the residents and activists to reach out to Tiruvallur district collector were futile as the official allegedly refused to meet them twice in the past week.
With no help coming from the local representative, councillors and MLA, the residents have been left to fend for themselves. “All our livelihood is around this area. Our children study here. We will not move out of our homes,” said M Rabiya, another resident.
Ambattur Revenue Divisional Officer Veerapan who was overseeing the eviction on Saturday, told Express that the houses were built on ‘poramboke’ lands along the lake bed.
“We are following court directions to clear settlements along water bodies. No alternative arrangements have been made for the evicted families,” the RDO said speaking to Express.