Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Slums on water bodies, a cause for concern for authorities

K.V. Prasad

Corporation focusses on safety during monsoon, searches for alternative sites

WORRISOME: Unauthorised settlements on the Valankulam Tank in Coimbatore city. - PHOTO: S. SIVA SARAVANAN

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Corporation is on the lookout for suitable alternative sites to relocate people living in huts or tile-roof houses on tanks and canals in the city. But, even as this task is on, the Corporation is worried over the lack of safety in the encroachments during heavy rain.

With only a little more than two months left for the onset of the southwest monsoon, the Corporation shudders to think of the impact of the rising water level in the tanks. Heavy inflow into the Valankulam during the northeast monsoon last year led to the flooding of colonies that had come on a sizeable portion of the tank along the Tiruchi Road.

The Corporation plans to provide tenements to those living in 173 slums in the city. Mayor R. Venkatachalam says there are 40 slums on water bodies. These have close to 45,000 people living in about 9,000 houses.

These are the people who face the threat of loss of lives and property from floods during monsoon. The Corporation, however, does not intend to remove them from the water bodies immediately. Making it clear that there is no move immediately to remove the hutments, the Mayor says that the Corporation wants to first identify alternative sites for these people.

The Corporation has said that these 40 slums cannot have new tenements in the existing place, as the water bodies need to be rejuvenated under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The proposed tenements for the slums also come under the mission's objective to provide amenities to the urban poor. As for the other slums, the Corporation plans to provide tenements in their existing locations if the land was available to the required extent. It has also tentatively identified its garbage transfer station at Ukkadam as one of the sites.

Rejecting speculations that the slum dwellers on the water bodies in the city may be asked to move out soon, the Mayor says the Corporation has no such intention and it only wants to ensure that the people are safe during floods.

"They are not willing to move out of their homes in spite of the life-threatening floods," says the Mayor. Narrating previous instances, he says these people fear theft of their belongings if they move out to shelters put up for the flood-affected. "They prefer to risk their lives. So, we will try and come out with a plan to put the people and their belongings in a safe place," he says. The Mayor indicates that a stiff test faces the Corporation in terms of rehabilitation during floods even as the Corporation works out a final solution for all the slums.

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