Chennai is possibly in the middle of a huge churning process. After years of looking the other way as people settled down on river banks, courses of water ways, even in the middle of lakes, the Tamil Nadu government is scurrying to evict people from these places. The lesson of the December 2015 floods that ravaged Chennai, leaving several dead and many others dispossessed, has been a hard one.
With a measure of judicial insistence, a desire to avoid a similar scenario and with the approval of civic rights activists, the government has begun to free the waterways from encroachments. But as it shifts families out of the core city areas and resettles them elsewhere, is the State doing everything within its powers to ensure a decent quality of life in the new area — distant from their places of work – good health care and education for them?
Officially, this is the largest shifting since the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) was established in September 1970. Within a short span of time, as on November 30, over 3,000 families across the city have been evicted and relocated to TNSCB tenements as part of the Integrated Cooum River Eco-Restoration Plan. In just the last one month, nearly 2,000 families from six slums have been relocated.
In public interest
What has led to the sudden acceleration of slum relocation? The roots of the development go back to March 2015 when the Madras High Court directed the State government to remove encroachments along the water courses.
The court ordered the State to “urgently remove encroachments, as the larger public interest cannot be jeopardised merely because the encroachers decided to sit on government lands.” The court noted that there were delays in constructing storm water drains and canal desilting on account of encroachments on the canal banks. The December 2015 floods, naturally, came in for mention.
In November last year, the Chief Secretary convened a meeting of the officers of the Chennai Corporation, the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, District Collectors, the police department and the Water Resource department in which the Advocate General was also present, to chalk out a plan of action for the eviction of encroachments along the Adyar river, the Cooum and the Buckingham canal.
Long walk: In the absence of proper water supply, residents at Perumbakkam have to carry it to their apartments.
At that time, of the 55,000 encroachments identified, only 4,134 had been removed and their occupants resettled.
Noting this, the Madras High Court directed the State government to take quick steps for the early removal of encroachments and construct alternative tenements for those to be resettled.
In January 2017, the High Court expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of slum relocation drive. In September 2017, the court ordered that immediate steps be taken for the removal of such encroachments after following the due process of law. In case the encroachments could not be removed even after the due process, the authorities were at liberty to use ‘force’, if need be. The police were directed to give all assistance.
It is based on these very clear directions of the court that the current slum clearance drive is being executed, with renewed zeal. But what is actually happening on the field?
Proper procedure?
Sixty-five-year-old Mariama, who left Tiruvannamalai with her family to settle down in the Mackay’s Garden in the city with the hope of leading a better life, claims that the eviction happened quickly and unexpectedly. “The corporation officials came to our place to count and identify residents. A few days later, we were evicted. We were not given any time, nor details of where we would be moved. It was all too sudden,” she claims.
However, TNSCB officials insist that all residents were informed about the relocation “months in advance” and are being moved to better houses for their own safety.
Most of those resettled find it almost impossible to carry on with daily life because of the long and tedious commute to the city, massive costs involved in the travel, safety and security issues in their new neighbourhood, and a host of other location-specific concerns.
The Tamil Nadu Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance Act), 1971, mandates the issuance of notice in advance and time for people to respond and appeal in case the decision is not favourable. The Tamil Nadu Protection of Tanks and Eviction of Encroachment Act, 2007 also states that the officer shall issue a notice calling upon the person concerned to remove the encroachment before a date specified in the notice.
“But none of this has been followed,” claims D. Jagadeeshwaran, an activist. “The people from the slums are not involved in any consultation meeting nor are they given any notices in advance. The State must understand their plight,” he says. Experts point out that no legal notices were issued in any of the 19 settlements evicted so far in the Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRTs) project, which is a violation of the High Court order.
‘Listen to us’
“Nobody asks us what we want,” says Prabhu, an employee at a private firm in Anna Salai. His family and 603 others were recently relocated from Thideer Nagar, Greams Road, to the TNSCB tenements in Perumbakkam, one of the resettlement sites. He complains that there is no water or electricity supply in the tenements. “The officials have moved us here, shouldn’t they make these basic arrangements before we arrive,” he asks. The residents describe the Perumbakkam tenements as a ‘ghetto’.
Another site, at Gudapakkam near Thirumazhisai, is nearly 30 km away from the city, and people have to pay ₹ 60 every day to travel to their workplace. “Of the ₹3,000 I earn a month, ₹1,800 goes on travel,” claims Suguna, a domestic worker who, with her two daughters, was resettled from Aminjikarai at Gudapakkam last year.
The evictions carried out under the CRRT’s Integrated Cooum River eco-restoration plan is being executed by the Greater Chennai Corporation and the TNSCB. The CRRT, in its final report on the project, proposes three options for the affected families — inside development wherever possible, in situ reconstruction and, finally, resettlement. Activists have repeatedly questioned why only the third option has been approved by the TNSCB when the other two would have ensured that at least 87 per cent of those affected would not have suffered a huge impact on their lives and livelihood.
Vanessa Peter, policy researcher, Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC), notes that some developed slums, which had a host of facilities, were in the list of those identified for eviction. Of the evicted 19 slums, four were developed under MUDP (Madras Urban Development Project). In the next phase of eviction, in areas like NSK Nagar and Moovendar Colony, near Arumbakkam, some families have MUDP allotment orders and some sale deeds. Will these families be evicted as encroachers, activists ask.
Among those shifted, there are quite a few who are grateful to the State for providing them a concrete roof above their heads. But they remain unsure about their future, especially their children’s education. The issue came to the fore last week when families in Thideer Nagar raised questions about the timing of the evictions and protested, demanding time to relocate as their children were in the midst of preparing for their mid-term exams.
“My daughter hasn’t gone to school since we moved here. There is no bus to commute,” says Sarita, who works as domestic help in the locality. Though the exact numbers are hard to come by, the dropout rate among those who have been relocated is over 50%. This has led to political parties taking up the cause.
Meanwhile, there are a few instances of those who have refused to leave their old homes and manage to survive amid the dust and rubble of demolished houses – despite the fact that living there has become hell. All amenities have been withdrawn, including water and electricity. Also living alongside them are those waiting for house allotment. Thirty-five-year-old Velankanni and his mother Sarasa are among the few left behind in Thideer Nagar. Velankanni is worried about his job and his ailing mother’s health. “There aren’t even proper hospitals to provide medical aid. The officials need to be reasonable, they cannot ask us to leave everything behind at such a short notice,” he said.
There is another category of people that is moving back to the city from the resettlement sites. V. Mahesh began looking for houses the day after he was moved to Perumbakkam from Rangoon Street, and will soon be heading out. “My brother has helped me find a place near Royapettah. Our (my wife and mine) workplace and children’s school are nearby. If we live here, we will lose everything,” he explains as he loads his bags into an auto-rickshaw with his family in Perumbakkam. “I will come back to take my other bags tomorrow,” he says, instructing his aunt to look after them.
Ensuring humaneness
Activists have urged the State to make the eviction process more humane. A recent analysis of the eviction of slums under the Cooum River Eco Restoration Project, by IRCDUC noted that the first drive of eviction was carried out in seven locations, nearly 10 days after the High Court order was passed in November last year.
After this, the State did not carry out any eviction for 10 months, even during vacations. However from September, 12 settlements were removed within a time frame of three months.
“They are carrying out the evictions in haste before the onset of monsoon. Why was the due process not followed,” asks Ms. Vanessa. She points out that the State had not prepared a Social Impact Assessment or resettlement action plans to mitigate the adverse impact of relocation.
However, TNSCB officials maintain that regular meetings were conducted with families and that children within Class 5 are being provided spot admissions in local schools and transport arrangements are being made for others. “We are also working at linking people to jobs nearby. Electricity and water connections are provided as families move in. But, we also need proper coordination from line departments so that the families can lead better lives post relocation,” said a senior official from the Board.
