The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Encroachment drive enters third day

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 26, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Encroachment drive enters third day

K. Manikandan

Officials say not less than 15,000 people are affected

WAITING FOR RELIEF: Those evicted from the Porur lake with their belongings on their way to rehabilitation sites on Saturday. — PHOTO: A. Muralitharan

CHENNAI: The drive against encroachments on the Porur lake entered the third day on Saturday. Families evicted from huts and houses began shifting, believed to be the largest displacement in the Chennai region in recent years.

While officials were not in a position to confirm the number of houses brought down and the families forced to evacuate, a modest estimate said that not less than 15,000 people were affected. They were quick to add that all the displaced families would be provided free housing sites at Nalloor village near Kunrathur in Kancheepuram district and Thervaai Kandigai village near Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district.

A majority of the families whose huts and houses were brought down managed to retrieve whatever they could and transported them in trucks, tempos and motorised rickshaws.

Traffic on the Chennai Bypass connecting Irumbuliyur and Madhuravoyal proceeded at a snail's pace near the lake, as there were hundreds of such hired vehicles apart from those belonging to the officials.

There were long queues of men and women waiting to receive tokens from officials of the Revenue Department of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. People displayed their ration, voter identity and TNEB cards, house tax receipts issued by village panchayats apart from "sale agreement" on stamp papers to get tokens. Only with the tokens could they visit the housing sites earmarked for them. The Kancheepuram region of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation arranged for a couple of buses to take the family members on a visit to the alternative sites.

The modus operandi

Encroachments begin in a uniform manner. First, usually land grabbers in connivance with political parties encourage landless people to "book" their plots of choice after a nominal payment. Once there is enough number of "bookings," construction of thatched huts begins with the blessings of lower level staff of the Revenue department.

The necessary `No Objection Certificates' are obtained or fake ones prepared to apply for necessary amenities. Local bodies grant their approval for formation of new residential localities, despite being fully aware of the violations. Officials of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board said rules did not permit them to provide connections to encroachments, but they always succumbed to pressure from the bigwigs of ruling parties.

Revenue officials issue 'B' memo and it is only a receipt for the sum received from encroachers as fine for illegally occupying government property. Using the ignorance of most dwellers in such places, land grabbers convince people that such memos were only indicators of ownership of land, say activists, adding that if officials act on time and elected representatives stay away from such issues, the problem of encroachments could be nipped in the bud.

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