COIMBATORE: Over 100 sanitary workers of Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC), who are staying in temporary sheds after being evicted from their houses in Ukkadam to facilitate construction of a flyover, sieged the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) tenements on Perur Bypass Road on Tuesday after officials cancelled the draw of lots for allocation of houses. The workers said a DMK functionary was interfering in the issue and prevented officials from conducting the draw.
Sanitary workers said 727 families were evicted and the houses demolished in 2018 for the construction of flyover ramps. The officials had allegedly promised the people that new housing unit would be built in the area and allocated temporary sheds to the families in Pullukadu. Sources said TNUHDB built 235 houses under the Ukkadam Project IV and handed them over to beneficiaries. For the remaining 492, officials planned to construct a block with 520 houses. The work was started in 2020 to build 222 residential units and the complex was inaugurated in October last year. However, the houses have not been allotted yet. To construct the remaining 298 residential units, the fish market is to be demolished.
On Tuesday, officials planned to conduct a draw of lots to select beneficiaries but it was cancelled in the last minute allegedly due to administrative reasons. Enraged by this, the people sieged the housing unit. “A DMK functionary is hindering the allotment of houses for the sanitary workers. Due to him, the allotment of houses is getting delayed,” said Madhan Kumar, one of the affected beneficiaries. “The DMK functionary is threatening officials to allocate houses as per his instructions. While we were eagerly waiting to shift to the new houses after nearly 6 years of struggle and expected to get a relief from living under small steel sheds in this scorching summer, the draw has been cancelled because of the party man,” he added.
V Dharmalingam, another sanitary worker said, “The officials assured us to conduct the draw by April 9. However, we’ve demanded to conduct it sooner. A huge protest will break out if they fail to do so.”
Despite multiple attempts, DMK’s Coimbatore district in-charge N Karthik didn’t respond to TNIE’s calls for a comment.