CHENNAI : Continuing its drive against encroachments in the southern suburbs of Chennai, especially on lakes, water channels and natural resources, the Kancheepuram district on Monday launched its exercise along the Adyar river in Anakaputhur.The anti-encroachment drive began with demolition of temporary concrete houses at Dhobikana Street underneath the bridge of the Chennai bypass road across the Adyar river. As the drive was planned well ahead of time and also was part of the drive to restore the original width of the river, teams of officials from Revenue and Public Works Departments and a large contingent of policemen arrived at the spot early on Monday.
Officials said 676 shops and homes had to be demolished in Anakaputhur area alone. Most families were ready to move to Ezhil Nagar in Perumbakkam, where each family would be provided a flat in the multi-storeyed tenement complex by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board. However, there was some reluctance among some of them and further, some vested interests were provoking the families to resist the government move, the officials said.
The Kancheepuram district officials said that specific instructions had been issued to 21 government departments to ensure that the families from Anakaputhur were resettled at the earliest and that they did not have any problems once they moved in there. Two blocks — Q and T — each with 90 flats on nine floors, were allotted to the families from Anakaputhur. Immediate priority would be given to accommodating children from Anakaputhur in government or private schools along the Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR).
Arrangements would also be made for immediate transfer of ration cards and liquefied petroleum gas cylinder connections. Staff in the Sholinganallur zone of the Civil Supplies, Food and Consumer Protection department have been instructed to help them. The Chennai Corporation has also been asked to ensure that the families receive food for at least three days.
Revenue officials told Express that the drive was part of measures to evict 20,000 unauthorised structures all over Kancheepuram district, especially in Tambaram division. Encroachments on the upstream of the Adyar river from its origin near Guduvanchery and beyond Tambaram were already demolished.
“Sixty per cent of Adyar’s course covers Tambaram division and most of its encroachments too are in this region. Encroachments on the Adyar river are an important reason for flooding of low-level areas in the city’s southern suburbs around Tambaram,” the officials said, adding that they were complying with Supreme Court orders on both removal of encroachments and rehabilitation of families. Adequate notices and time were given to the families to vacate in the past two years since the 2015 floods, and even prior to that, added the officials.