CHENNAI: In tenements at Annai Anjugam Nagar on the outskirts of the city, 81 families who were resettled from Anakaputhur on November 4 see their lives play out much like the recent Sivakarthikeyan flick ‘Maaveeran.’When TNIE visited the spot, the reporter and photojournalist were asked by the residents to try pressing the corners of the walls with their hands and sure enough, bits of concrete crumbled under the slightest pressure.
The tenement that has 192 houses was inaugurated in July by Minister for Rural Industries and Slum Clearance Board TM Anbarasan. With the 81 families from Anakaputhur being the latest to be resettled here, almost all houses in the tenements are full.
“We are holding on for dear life since this tenement might fall apart anytime,” said Srimathi (name changed). Portions of pillars were found crumbling notwithstanding even the pressure of a nylon rope used to dry clothes. The walls are damaged in the areas where latches hit gently on the wall beside it, forming craters. Two years after KP Park tenements in Pulianthope came under the spotlight for poor quality of construction and contractor PST Engineering Construction was ‘blacklisted’ on paper, the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board and the state seem to have a similar problem on their hands.
“The blocks will look good from the outside, but the story is different from the inside. There is a window in every portion which is open, and the hall gets wet when it rains,” said Jai, a college student. These, the residents said, are minor inconveniences when compared to structural issues in the buildings. In addition to poor construction quality and leaks, the buildings are also a stone’s throw away from the Adyar. “Ironically, we were evicted from our tenements because we were living too close to the Adyar. Now, as you can see, we are even closer than before,” said P Arun, a resident.
TNIE also found that the septic tank in the building overflowed and sewage was being let directly into the Adyar. The shoddy work on the buildings also extended to the power supply network where residents said they could only use limited appliances at a given time. “If over five mixer grinders in the block are run simultaneously, the power gives out and we face outage for hours,” said K Pandian, another resident.
Every day, water from overhead tanks is supplied to the houses through pipeline at 3 pm. However, most of the residents are out for work or school and college. The amount of water the houses receive is insufficient for cooking, basic needs and washing clothes, the residents said. When asked, officials said, “Initially, people complained about damage in the walls. So, we told the contractor to do the patchwork. However, the contractor says the residents damaged it purposely. We did not go in person, so the contractor was the only source of information. We will look into this and do the needful.”