The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Residents protest eviction move

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Thursday, Dec 06, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Residents protest eviction move

Special Correspondent

Pallavaram people say that only the poor are being targeted

— Photo: K. Manikandan

UP IN ARMS: A meeting of residents living near the Pallavaram Lake in progress on Monday.

TAMBARAM: In the backdrop of reports that the State Government machinery was stepping up efforts to evict encroachers from waterbodies in the southern suburbs of Chennai, residents of Pallavaram staged a demonstration on Monday, protesting the reported moves to displace them.

About 500 men, women and children from Sanjay Gandhi Nagar and other areas adjoining the Pallavaram Lake (‘Periya Eri’) staged the day-long protest spearheaded by the south Chennai unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

While stressing the need for protecting waterbodies in Chennai’s peripheries, the party leaders said several hundred families were living on the fringes of the lake that had gone into ‘disuse’ several years ago owing to the lack of maintenance and protection by the government agencies .

By evicting encroachers from the lake, more than 2,000 families would be affected.

“The government has made no arrangements for proper resettlement of these families who are to be evicted … where will they go during the monsoon,” asked S.Narasimhan, Pallavaram Municipal Councillor of the party.

Bhima Rao, member of the party’s district unit, wanted the government to stop dumping and burning of garbage inside the lake that had caused irreparable damage to the waterbody .

Speakers at the protest meeting also pointed out to the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road that had cut the lake into two.

They said the government’s moves against encroachments should be uniform, but they felt that only the poor were being targeted. While reiterating that all waterbodies should be conserved and protected, the partymen said government should also attach equal importance to proper resettlement of the poor.

Meanwhile, officials of the Revenue Department said they had issued notices to the encroachers on many lakes and eviction would start soon.

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