In last year’s hit Tamil film Maaveeran, the hero and his family are evicted from a slum and forced to move into high-rise tenements constructed by the government. However, the tenements prove to be shoddily constructed, putting the lives of the residents at risk. For most viewers in Tamil Nadu, the plot point was clearly ripped from headlines, depicting the notorious K P Park tenements in Chennai that opened in 2021.
The 1,558 K P Park flats that house 7,790 people were found to have crumbling walls, water seepage, electricity and water issues although they were constructed as recently as 2018-19. At the time, the new DMK government had ordered an assessment to be done by IIT-Madras’s Centre for Urbanisation, Buildings and Environment (CUBE). The CUBE report assessed four blocks and found poor workmanship in plastering and other shortcomings that created fall and electrical hazards.
It recommended retrofits and repairs as well as periodic maintenance. Yet, the residents of these tenements say little has been remedied apart from some minor repairs. A TNIE spot report this week found pockmarked, eroding walls and water seepage in the tenements’ block G. Residents said they lived in fear of the building collapsing altogether. Unfortunately, they are not alone. Last November, TNIE reported on the shoddy construction of tenements on the outskirts of Chennai opened only four months earlier.
These tenements are constructed by the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board, earlier known as the slum board. The rebranding was an initiative of the DMK when it came to power and was aimed at recognising the dignity of the poor and working class people—the people who keep Chennai running—who are served by this board. While the intention was good, it remains unfulfilled given the conditions in which these very people are forced to live.
The K P Park tenements were constructed by the previous government; however, it is the current government’s duty to ensure meaningful improvements are made in this and other tenements. Further, it is imperative that future construction is not embarked on without the inputs of those who will live there.
For this, communities must be taken on board, their aspirations and needs recognised, respected and adhered to. The state must also hold those responsible for such poor work accountable in a meaningful way. Only then will the intention behind the name change be meaningfully realised.