There are two categories of people in the residential locality that is sandwiched between Valangulam in the south and Trichy Road in the north.
The first set is busy removing tiles from roofs and demolishing walls. The second set is also busy – running from pillar to post to meet officials to know what will be their fate in the coming days.
Those unpacking the tiles and bringing down the walls are doing so to fulfil the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board condition that they will have to bring down their houses before they can move over to the newly constructed tenements in Ammankulam.
The residents will have to click photographs of their demolished houses, show those as proofs to the TNSCB officers and then enter the Ammankulam tenements.
Even as they are removing the tiles and wooden poles, people are busy negotiating with the traders for a good price to sell those.
The second set of people is asking what will be the fate of their houses? “Will the TNSCB demolish our houses,” asks a worried S. Vekkaliammal. With no power and limited water supply, her life has never been worse.
The family that lived next to hers had shared power. Prior to moving over to Ammankulam and demolishing house as beneficiary, it asked for the power to be disconnected. Once the power supply was disconnected, Ms. Vekkaliammal lost power.
Many such families here are suffering, says S. Selvakumar, a resident, who has been trying to help fellow residents.
The absence of power has made life worse in the events as thieves are on the prowl, complains S. Sivanandan’s family. S. Indrani’s family is also staring at a similar fate.
Mr. Selvakumar says that several families have got the TNSCB’s identification number but not allotment orders as they have been left out.
The TNSCB had identified 792 beneficiaries and of those 450 have moved over to Ammankulam.
But there are over 1,009 families in the locality, say the residents.
With the TNSCB and the Coimbatore Corporation taking efforts to completely raze down the houses and fence the Valangulam bund, they want to know what will be their fate. Officials say they will soon decide on the fate of the residents. And while taking a decision, their difficulties will be kept in mind.