Encroachments on Peerkankaranai watercourse removed

Tension grips area as residents protest eviction drive

Braving residents’ protests, Revenue officials removed pucca structures located on the surplus watercourse near Peerkankaranai Lake on Friday. Tension gripped the areas around Sriram Nagar under ward 1 of Peerkankaranai Town Panchayat, when some residents protested against the eviction drive.

According to the residents, revenue officials had informed them that 78 buildings constructed on the channel would be demolished and they had been vacating their homes on their own. But the officials began marking on the walls of houses that were not encroachments. This caused tension and the residents, were pacified by senior police officials.

Adequate time given

Revenue officials said that the drive was part of measures to evict 20,000 unauthorised structures all over Kancheepuram district, especially in Tambaram division. Encroachments on the upstream of the Adyar river from its origin near Guduvanchery and beyond Tambaram were already demolished. Adequate notice and time had been given to the families to vacate since the 2015 floods and even prior to that, the officials added.

Continuing their drive against encroachments in the city’s southern suburbs especially on lakes and water channels, the Kancheepuram district officials had launched exercise along the Adyar river in Anakaputhur, a few days ago. The drive began with the demolition of concrete houses below the bridge of the Chennai bypass road across the Adyar river. Officials said 676 shops and homes were demolished in the Anakaputhur area alone. Most families were ready to move to Ezhil Nagar in Perumbakkam, where each family would be provided a flat in the multi-storeyed tenements by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board. However, there was some reluctance from some of them.