120 shops, commercial establishments in Chennai create a bottleneck for Cooum restoration
CHENNAI: While around 12,000 families have been relocated off the banks of the Cooum, around 120 commercial establishments including shops have created a bottleneck in the Integrated Cooum eco-restoration plan.
According to officials from the Public Works Department, there are a group of shops in areas including Radhakrishnan Nagar in Arumbakkam, fast food and mechanic shops on Greams road and in Egmore that have been marked and identified to be on the right of way.
The New Indian Express had also reported that a hotel formerly called Shan Royal had also allegedly encroached around 40 feet upon the Cooum river banks.
"Many of these commercial establishments move court against the eviction. We will have to wait until its logical end to continue work in the areas where the shops are standing," said an official who did not want to be named.
In places like Thideer Nagar, 603 houses were taken down under the Cooum restoration plan despite resistance from its erstwhile residents for evictions during the mid-academic year. The resistance did little to stop the evictions and they were resettled in November 2017 to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board tenements in Perumbakkam, 20 kilometres away.
However, to this day, seven shops continue to hold their place and do business in the same area. Shop owners argue that the relocation option offered to them in Singaperumalkoil, around 20 kilometres from Tambaram, would effectively end their business opportunities.
Similarly, in Naduvankarai biometric enumeration was done in 2018 but the area has been left out until now because the shops had filed a petition, said officials.
The Madras High Court had directed the State Government to evict families 'encroaching' the banks of the Cooum in 2017.