CHENNAI: “This was the house that Karunanidhi gave us. This is ours now; whatever happens here, should happen with our consent,” said Kiruba, a 67-year-old resident of the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board’s tenements in Satyamoorthy Nagar, Vyasarpadi. She was picked up from the platform in Chembudas Street in Parry’s 45 years ago to be housed in the tenements constructed during the former Chief Minister’s reign in the early 1970s as soon as the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board was formed in 1970.
As the tenements were in no state conducive to living, the families welcome renovation of the houses. But their primary grouse is that the tenements, now three-storeyed, are being razed down to build 13-storeyed building. “We have seen the resettlement tenements in areas like Perumbakkam and Thoraipakkam. Not only the lifts do not work for months together, they are asked to pay a maintenance of `750 a month,” said Annakili, another resident. For the 300 families that are mostly involved in wage labour, `750 a month is a burden.
“We ask them to build three-storeyed houses just like what we have now, instead of 13-storeyed buildings,” said Sebastian, a resident. For a month now, residents are fearing forced evictions to make way for the new multi-storeyed structure with only a one-time allowance of `8000. Only last week, the Nochi Kuppam residents were evicted to allow construction of a new building in its place.As a temporary arrangement, they have been asked to move to ‘temporary shelters’in Mullai Nagar, overlooking the Mullai Nagar burial ground. When Express visited the spot, the temporary ‘shelters’ in place, made of asbestos sheets, were in no condition for a family to live.
“How do we take our girls and live in the house that does not even have proper doors. Will the officials live here with their families? Just facing the burial ground?,” asks Mangai, a resident. When contacted, officials said that plans had been underway to build 468 buildings in place of the 300 buildings. “Forty three of the 300 families have handed over the keys. As soon as the other families vacate, construction will start. The tendering processes are already over,” said a slum board official. The remaining houses are to be sold to families of economically weaker sections at a subsidised cost. The project is expected to be completed within 18 months.
Fear of being evicted haunts residents
For a month now, residents are fearing forced evictions to make way for the new multi-storeyed structure with only a one-time allowance of Rs 8000. Only last week, the Nochi Kuppam residents were evicted to allow construction of a new building in its place. As a temporary arrangement, they have been asked to move to ‘temporary shelters’ in Mullai Nagar, overlooking the Mullai Nagar burial ground.