Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Slum dwellers sore over displacement

By Karthik Subramanian

CHENNAI NOV. 11. More than 100 families which were evicted from Konnur High Road by the Chennai Corporation last month to take up work on pavement are sore that they were removed from a locality that was declared a slum under the Tamil Nadu Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act, 1971. It has been recorded as serial number 281 of the survey of slum colonies by the Slum Clearance Board.

The families are now forced to share their living space with some of their neighbours, who themselves fear eviction at any moment. Most of the casual labourers in construction sector are unable to set up new huts elsewhere with the lack of daily wage jobs.

In a petition to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, the residents alleged that the Chennai Corporation had taken up seven metres of their colony for pavement work amid protests that it was announced as a "designated slum colony". The civic officials in the presence of police removed 136 huts on October 18.

The slum dwellers charge that they were not even served notices prior to demolition.

The Co-ordinator for Chennai Slum Dwellers' Rights Movement, K. Shanmugavelayutham, said a demolition notice was made mandatory by the Supreme Court in the famous case involving public writ petition filed by a Mumbai journalist, Olga Tellis in 1981. Quoting from the court ruling, Mr. Shanmugavelayutham said, "a person who is likely to be adversely affected by a particular act should be informed about the commission of such an act and must be given an opportunity to be heard".

Until now, the dislocated slum dwellers have not been offered any alternative settlement. "Even if an offer is made, we want to be resettled close by. Okkiam Thoraipakkam is out of question because it is far away from our place of work," one of the dislocated slum dwellers said.

When contacted, some Chennai Corporation officials said the slum dwellers had volunteered to move away from the locality and no force was used during demolition.

The Chennai Slum Dwellers' Rights Movement, meanwhile, has demanded stoppage of all demolitions and evictions in the city. It has appealed for implementation of a housing programme for the dwellers before any demolition takes place.

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