CHENNAI: A total of 347 families along the banks of the Cooum river at MSP Nagar, Maduravoyal, were evicted by Greater Chennai Corporation on Friday as part of the Cooum river restoration project under the Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT).
Speaking to the press after inspecting the eviction site, Corporation Commissioner D Karthikeyan said that while there may be minor setbacks in evictions of this scale, the families would receive assistance along every step of resettlement, from transport to subsistence aid.
“After the evictions, steps would be taken to prevent any further encroachments,” he said. The city corporation engaged 25 trucks and around a 100 staff to help residents shift to their new residences at Gudapakkam, around 27 kilometres from their earlier abode. While most families here said they were willing to shift to Gudapakkam immediately, some said that the evictions in mid academic year would force parents to rent a house in the same locality.
“Although I’m a daily wage labourer, I have managed to pay `45,000 as fees for this year in a private school because I believed we must never compromise on our children’s education. We are now planning to rent a house nearby,” said Yuvaraj.
According to corporation, there were 177 students in MSP Nagar. As per the data compiled by Vanessa Peter, policy researcher at the Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC), the nearest Government High School was near Gudapakkam bus stop, two kms away while the nearest Government Higher Secondary Schools were in Thirumazhisai, nine kms away.
Express had earlier reported that residents at Gudapakkam claimed that the Primary Health Centre and ICDS centres within the premises had not been functioning even five months after the 300 flood-affected families had been moved into the tenements. On asked what the next phase of evictions was, Karthikeyan said, “We are in talks with 400 families in Aminjikarai and will be looking to shift them next.”