The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Schoolchildren return to find homes gone

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Friday, Nov 24, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Schoolchildren return to find homes gone

J. Malarvizhi

Officials begin demolishing encroachments on Porur lake

IN DEEP WATER: Schoolchildren return home on Thursday afternoon in the middle of an eviction drive being conducted by the collectorates of Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur and the PWD, in the Porur Lake. — PHOTO: S.S. Kumar

CHENNAI : More than 5,000 people are likely to be displaced by an eviction drive launched by the Kancheepuram Collectorate and the Public Works Department at the Porur Lake on Thursday morning.

With the lake lying on the border between Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram, officials said that eviction operations on the Thiruvallur side would begin when Kancheepuram was done.

Fifteen earthmovers and tracked excavators were pressed into service to demolish more than 100 houses and several hundred hutments that lie just within the banks of the lake. Officials said that there was no count of the number of houses being demolished.

Many of the residents said that they had bought the land from owners who had since left the area and had built houses here around a decade or two ago.

"We hear threats of an eviction every year," said Leo, resident, "That is why no one took it seriously this time." Residents said that officials arrived at the lake's banks behind Amman Nagar and BHEL Nagar in Madhanandhapuram, Porur, around 8 a.m. and that JCB machines were brought in after 10 a.m. A few said that they had received warnings the previous week. Many said they had not.

Several families were not living in the houses, since the water levels had risen beyond three feet in some places, said residents.

Those still making their way in and out on rafts of thermocol used the same rafts to take away electronic appliances, furniture, clothes and utensils. A group of schoolboys arrived at the banks after noon, stunned to find the homes they left behind in the morning suddenly missing.

Joshua, resident, claimed that a nursery school attended by more than hundred students was among the buildings demolished. The school had been running since the heavy rains last year, said Lakshmi, another resident who lost her house.

The heavy police presence proved unnecessary, given the prevailing air of resignation. The remains of a transformer lay under water close to the bank piled high with debris and household belongings. Men scrambled up electricity poles to disconnect wires as the eviction proceeded. Streetlights were still standing on submerged streets.

"We had electricity connections, ration cards and voter identification cards," said Renuka, a resident of the area for seven years.

Officials said that Nallur village, seven kilometres south of Kunrathur, has been identified as an alternative location for the people evicted.

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