CHENNAI: A group of residents from Vyasarpadi in Chennai has alleged the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) is delaying the allotment of houses to them in their scheme areas even though the board had notified vacancies.
“We submitted petitions before the 2021 election under the ‘Ungal Thokuthiyil Stalin’ campaign, which was later transformed to Ungal Thokuthiyil Muthalamaichar’. Our petitions were numbered and forwarded to TNUHDB,” Srinivasan, a resident of Pudhu Nagar, Vyasarpadi told TNIE.
Petitions demanding housing from Pudhu Nagar in Vyasarpadi were shortlisted and 24 beneficiaries were identified. “All the families are from poor backgrounds, daily wage workers. We submitted all the required documents and the beneficiary amount was initially said to be Rs 1.5 lakh. But every time we are informed to pay a higher amount as the beneficiary contribution. We had earlier petitioned through the chief minister’s special cell. We were informed that houses would be allotted at the earliest. But for more than a year no progress has been made,” Srinivasan added.
“We are informed of varied amounts as the beneficiary contribution for the same tenements,” said Malarkodi, a resident of Pudhu Nagar and one of the petitioners. She added, “For more than 40-50 years, we have been living in Chennai in tiny rented houses. We are ready to pay Rs 1.5 lakh or even more as the contribution from our side.”
A senior official with TNUHDB told TNIE, “Among all beneficiaries, priority is currently being given to people who were resettled under the Chennai River Restoration Trust (CRRT) works, since it is a court order. It is a difficult task for us now to find houses for CRRT resettlers as various projects are at different stages.” TNUHDB is currently undertaking 117 projects which are in different stages across Tamil Nadu, of which more than 20 are in Chennai.
“Some project areas are allotted for CRRT resettlers, which is our first priority now. EWS beneficiaries will be selected on a seniority basis,” A Karpagam, TNUHDB assistant secretary (tenements), told TNIE