Tamil Nadu Government Rental Housing Scheme (TNGRHS) residents living in Tamil Nadu Housing Board’s (TNHB) apartments staged a demonstration in front of Red Cross Society Buildings on Huzur Road in Coimbatore protesting against the move to evict them and demolish the quarters.
Residents said that the Board was planning to demolish these houses and sell the land to private parties. With the revenue generated from the sale, it had originally planned to construct 2,000 houses under the comprehensive rental housing scheme for the Government servants at Kavundampalayam. But, now the TNHB has served notices asking the tenants to vacate especially in the middle of an academic year, S. Devarajan of Thomas Park Housing Unit, who led the demonstration, said.
According to him, the plan of the TNHB was to vacate the occupants and demolish 402 houses in Thomas Park, 328 houses in DFO compound, 532 in Kavundampalayam, 192 in Uppipalayam, 84 in Gandhipuram and 54 houses in Seeranaickenpalayam. Collector M. Karunagaran, Housing Minister and Housing Secretary had promised the tenants of some amicable solution. But, the TNHB was expediting its plans to demolish the houses. The tenants along with their family members started cooking food on the road, symbolically conveying that TNHB was forcing them to live on the road.
They wanted the TNHB to construct houses elsewhere before the commencement of the academic year.
