C. Sujitha has been living at Kumarasamy Colony for long. That should be at least 25 years plus, says the kindergarten school teacher. Her house is very close to the Muthannankulam, on a government land.
There are hundreds of people like her who live along the water body in the fervent hope that the promise of better, concrete-roof house will be a reality. The residents were told six years ago that they would soon get concrete house in the form of Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board tenements, she says.
That was when the corporation enumerated the people who lived along the water body to identify them as beneficiaries for the housing scheme. But then nothing much happened.
The Board engineers say that the residents will have to wait till July this year as 448 of the 1,840 houses in the Ukkadam project will be ready for occupation. Work to complete painting, electric wiring, underground drainage, storm water drain, etc. are nearing completion.
Once that is done, the Board and the corporation will handover the tenements to the residents, they say.
The Board took up construction of 2,904 houses in Ukkadam for the corporation. The objective was to provide alternative and better housing.When it took up construction, the target was to complete the work by 2013 and handover the tenements that year or in 2014. But the sinking of a block of ground plus four-storey structure in 2010-11 complicated things.
The Board sources say that the State Government constituted two independent teams that suggested that the Board bring down the number of houses by demolishing the top two floors. In short, the teams asked the boards to demolish the fifth and fourth floors. This reduced the total tenements by 1,064 and brought down the number of houses to 1,840.
The Board sources say that it has completed the demolition process and was readying the roof in over 15 blocks. They will be ready by October 2016 for occupation.
Ms. Sajitha says that people like her have heard several such explanations and seen extended deadlines. “Only when I enter the new houses, will I believe that I’ve been given one. Until then it just remains a promise.”
