The Hindu : Front Page : Three lakh people to be evicted

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Friday, Dec 22, 2006
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Three lakh people to be evicted

Vani Doraisamy

All-out drive against encroachments along Adyar, Cooum and Buckingham Canal

ON THE WAY OUT: Encroachments on the Adyar river that will be removed under the Chennai City River Conservation Project. — PHOTO: N. SRIDHARAN

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CHENNAI: Houses of about three lakh people living along the city's waterways are facing demolition.

Authorities are preparing for an all-out eviction drive against encroachers along the Adyar and Cooum rivers and Buckingham Canal under the Chennai City River Conservation Project (CCRCP).

The official estimate of the number of families facing eviction is 33,313. Of these, residents of 8,164 tenements — nearly 40,000 people — who live in areas that hinder the ongoing desilting efforts will be evicted and resettled on the city outskirts.

"Nearly 6,624 families have encroached upon the banks of the Adyar, 8,266 along the Cooum and 18,243 along Buckingham Canal. All of them will be resettled and efforts will be made to provide them alternative livelihood opportunities where they are relocated," Department of Environment officials — the nodal agency for CCRCP — told this newspaper.

The massive relocation effort, however, has already run into predictable problems: non-availability of government land for resettling the displaced and dissatisfaction among those being moved out.

The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board has finished construction of 3,000 tenements at Thoraipakkam and 5,164 tenements at Semmencheri. A total number of 1,512 tenements at Semmencheri will be completed soon. "We have also identified government land at Ezhil Nagar in north Chennai and Perumbakkam in south Chennai that will be used to construct 10,000 and 8,000 tenements respectively under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. The rest of the land will be identified and tenements constructed within the next five years," K.R. Thyagarajan, Chief Engineer, TNSCB, said.

The TNSCB's Community Development Wing will simultaneously get into the act, providing psychosocial support to those likely to be displaced. Entrepreneurial training and alternative livelihood options will also be provided.

For the families, the development, though expected, has come as a misfortune. "I purchased this house [in Olcott Kuppam, Besant Nagar] out of the little money I saved from fishing. At no point till now were we told that this is unauthorised land as most of us have voter ID and ration cards. If they move us to Semmencheri, I will not be able to fish anymore," says K. Palaniappan, a fishing community leader.

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