CHENNAI: Mattan Kuppam, a fishing hamlet over 200 years old located along the Buckingham canal, is in line for eviction as part of the project to restore the canal. Unlike other families evicted from the city, relocated to distant sites and forced to rebuild a life from scratch, the residents of Mattan Kuppam, who have Marine Fishers identity cards, say they cannot survive if displaced from the coast. Officials are yet to inform them of where they will be accommodated.
The uncertainty plagues those like 38-year-old S Sathish. He rises before dawn each day, as his wife and children sleep, and walks just 500m down the Marina beach to reach the shore where he gathers his fishing equipment and boards a boat with his friends in search of the day’s catch. Given the vagaries of the sea, his wife is a domestic worker to supplement the family’s income. The family of four resides in a small room. Theirs is among the 270 houses in Canal Street marked in blue paint by the Water Resources Department for eviction.
Situated below the Triplicane MRTS station, Mattan Kuppam is one of the oldest settlements in the city, with the 1975 Socio Economic Survey of Slums by the then Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board estimating it to be 215 years old. Despite residing in cramped, dimly lit, poorly ventilated houses, the residents said their confidence that a better future is attainable comes from their trust in the sea. They said they exercised a similar trust in the government when they cooperated with the recent biometric enumeration, a precursor to eviction.
‘Would you leave a place you always called home?’
They cooperated on the promise of officials that they will be resettled near their existing houses and the coast. However, since then officials have kept them in the dark, causing fear and uncertainty in the community. “We do not have a problem vacating as long as we are provided housing near the sea.
We cooperated with the officials and gave our fingerprints, but they refuse to tell us where we will be relocated. The sea is the main source of income for us. How will we survive if we moved away?” asked 70-year-old Mariamma.
Families in the nearby localities of Sunkuwar Street, Sivarajpuram, Rotary Nagar, Neelam Basha Darga situated at the edge of the canal below the Triplicane MRTS, and a few dwellings in Lock Nagar, across from the Chepauk MRTS station, are also scheduled to be evicted.
A few residents in Sunkuwar Street, which also has a significant population of fishermen, do not want to move and refused to give their biometrics, fearing it might act as an agreement to vacate their homes. “I am illiterate. I do not want to give my fingerprints without knowing where we would be relocated to. We have been living here for decades.
Would you leave a place that you have called home since childhood?” asked 55-year-old Pushpa Rani of Sunkuwar Street. Officials confirmed to TNIE that discussions were being conducted regarding the eviction of people from Mattan Kuppam and neighbouring areas in the 2.9-kilometre stretch from Lock Nagar to Radhakrishnan Salai in the first phase.
However, an official said they were exploring resettlement options within a five-kilometre radius of their current homes to be allotted. “We will take a call on the resettlement site after the enumeration is complete. Depending on the number of families, we will open up certain schemes for new allotment,” the official said.