Residents of a slum in MSM Colony, Gnanapuram, were evicted by Railway officials with the help of men from Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Saturday morning.
Early in the morning, the officials reached the site with a JCB and demolished the colony, even before the residents could realise what was happening.
About 42 families had been living in the slum, for two decades.
Most of them are from the SC/ST community and had been making a living either by begging at the railway station or selling small plastic items.
“There are about 20 senior citizens and over 40 children and we have become homeless within a span of 20 minutes,” said Kanaka Raju, a resident.
“With overcast skies and persistent rain, where do we go now with all the old people and children? The authorities, either the railway or the GVMC have not shown any alternative site, where we can build our homes,” said Srinivas, another resident of the slum.
According to Sheetal Madan of Association of Regional Tribal Development, the residents were given voter ID cards just before the General Election by the district authorities and now after the election, they had completely disowned them.
J.V. Ratnam of People-Centric Development said that eviction of slums without notice and without providing an alternative housing arrangement was illegal as per Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act of 1956. “The corporation is supposed to spend 40 per cent of its fund for Urban Community Development.
We demand that the slum be re-built or they be given proper housing under JNNURM or RAY programme, immediately,” said Mr. Ratnam.
According to Kanaka Raju, the GVMC authorities had promised to talk to the Railway officials and extend their stay till some arrangement was made, but that had not happened.