The shopping complex constructed by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board during the early 1980s on 12th Main Road, Anna Nagar is in a dilapidated condition owing to which many occupants have vacated the place.
Referring to a series of letters of exchanged between the Tamil Nadu Housing Board Shopping Complex Tenants Traders Association and Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB), many occupants say that they are willing to vacate the shops for reconstruction of a new complex by the Board.
TheTNHB should give us an agreement that shops will be allotted to the present tenants/owners after payment of necessary fees stipulated by the Board, traders say.
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It may be recalled that the TNHB, in order to construct new shopping complexes, issued notices to tenants of shops which are in a dilapidated condition.
There are about 97 shops which are listed for demolition and reconstruction in Anna Nagar Division. Of these shops, 33 shops are classified under Open Space Reservation (OSR), for which tenants have been paying rents for more than three decades.
Traders in these shops say that it was shocking that the TNHB wants them to vacate without any assurance that they will be given allotment after reconstruction. One of them said that though a number of allottees have either died or dissolved their partnerships, the present tenants have been doing business in these complexes and paying rent and other charges according to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board norms. If they are driven out of this place, their livelihood will be in jeopardy.
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Referring to the KK Nagar Division’s action in a similar case, where the TNHB entered into an agreement with the occupants to rationalise their allotments, the present tenants wanted the Tamil Nadu Housing Board to amend the laws to suit the current scenario.
However, the TNHB has informed the occupants to vacate the shopping complex within the stipulated time and help the Board to proceed with the construction of the new ones.
The traders insist that as they have been the tenants for all these years, the Board should take a decision in their favour.
The shopping complex is also being misused as a den for anti-social activities, say traders.
Besides, the place is ridden with stench as garbage is not cleared periodically.
Only if the Tamil Nadu Housing Board takes a quick decision, the place can be saved from falling into the hands of land sharks and it will also fetch them a substantial revenue, the traders added.
The traders said that they want a meeting to be convened with the Tamil Nadu Housing Board officials to sort out the issue.