The Hindu : 100 slum families await Police department nod

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 12, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

100 slum families await Police department nod

CHENNAI, JAN. 11. About 100 families living in huts alongside Swathanthra Nagar Colony here can get flats for themselves if the Police department agrees to part with its land. Left out of a settlement scheme, the families now live on Moores Road, Egmore, bordering the colony, which was inaugurated August last.

Till a few years ago, Swathanthra Nagar was a slum ravaged by fires. The Government then decided to build flats at the same place for over 500 families.

However, the slum was on land owned by the Public Works, Education and Police departments, and only the first two agreed to hand over their portions of land to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board. The 100 families on the Police department land were left out of the resettlement scheme.

Those identified under the scheme were temporarily housed on College Road and near the Lalit Kala Akademi until the completion of construction of flats.

The board has now scheduled a meeting with the Police Commissioner next week to discuss handing over of the latter's land to the board. ``If they agree, we will construct a building for them in six months,'' says the board Chairman, N. Balaganga.

But the slum dwellers fear the implications of such a plan. ``We were left out the first time. What is the guarantee that they will keep their word now? They will evict us on the pretext of building flats and later claim they were not meant for us,'' says Mahalakshmi, a resident.

``Why do not they allot us the vacant flats in the new colony?'' asks Mohan Raj, her neighbour. Of the 576 flats in the colony, about 100 are vacant. Entrances to three blocks have been closed with brick walls. Mr. Balaganga says these flats will be handed over to residents of Swathanthra Nagar, who have not yet claimed their allotments. A board official says the Chennai Corporation has asked them to allot the flats to slum dwellers living in ``objectionable'' areas.

However, the slum dwellers object. ``Before the scheme started, the board issued cards identifying us as residents of the Swathanthra Nagar. If there are 100 vacant flats in the colony, they should allot them to us and not to outsiders,'' says T.S. Mani, another left-out resident.

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