Tamil Nadu   

Scheme to rid Coimbatore city of slums

K.V. Prasad

COIMBATORE: The city's image of an emerging information technology hub and medical tourism centre seems to be having a cascading effect, and a much-desired one at that.

The city planners are not stopping with just key infrastructure such as roads. They also plan to prevent mushrooming of slums so that the city does not go the Chennai or Mumbai way. The immediate task on hand involves relocation of the existing slums before they become too unwieldy. The Coimbatore Corporation has chalked out a Rs. 281-crore plan to rid the city of slums.

If the plan is implemented, visitors to the city may not get to see these people living in huts. Instead, there will be multi-storeyed dwellings with elevators, recreation space and shops.

"The aim is to remove the slums now located along canals and tanks and also in other areas that impede development and re-locate them," says Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran. "A clean image of the city and decent living standards for these people are the twin objectives," says Mr Muthuveeran.

A 110-acre site at Ukkadam on the southern border of the city and the erstwhile compost yard at Kavundampalayam on the north have been tentatively identified for the purpose. Both areas will be developed into residential localities where these people can lead a healthy life, and also not feel that they have been removed from the city.

"We will interact with the slum dwellers and involve the councillors in the process as they are very vital in convincing these people on the project," says the Commissioner.

The Corporation, however, will have a tough task on hand when it comes to persuading these people to re-locate.

Most of them insist on remaining in the core parts of the city as they insist on staying close to their place of work. Men are daily wage earners and many women work as domestic help in houses nearby.

These families can be found in a defunct quarry and along a major tank in the heart of the city. Till now, they have resisted moves for re-location.

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