Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Slum dwellers oppose eviction

— Photo: G. Moorthy

Give houses: Residents of a slum at Melavasal staging a protest near Collectorate in the city on Monday.

MADURAI: Residents of a slum in Melavasal came to the streets on Monday in protest against their alleged eviction from a space where they had been living for more than half a century.

The slum dwellers, mostly cobblers, conservancy workers and daily wage labourers of Madurai Corporation Harijan Colony, blocked the road near the Collectorate demanding the construction of housing colonies for them.

The protesters, in their representation, said that during last year the Local Administration Minister, M.K. Stalin, along with the Minister of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare, A. Tamilarasi, and the Minister, Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, Suba. Thangavelan, laid the foundation stone for 480 houses. They alleged that during that time the then Collector T. Udayachandran had promised them of land of three cents near Chakkimangalam with an assurance of help in getting loans.

There are more than 100 families, which live near the housing colony in slums, and they demand construction of another 100 houses along with the already said 480 houses. Moreover, they contend that the non-availability of space is a false claim and say that if they could stop the construction of a shopping complex near the place they can build 100 houses. The residents have offered to cooperate with the administration if they were relocated at Pazhathottam in Pandikoil or Avaniapuram or Anuppanadi (railway gate), with all basic amenities.

N. Nanmaran MLA (Madurai East) and S.S. Ghouse Basha MLA (Madurai Central), came to the spot and pacified the crowd and assured that necessary arrangements would be made to accommodate them.

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