1,000 houses razed on Valankulam tank

Amid heavy police security, Corporation officials under the instructions of District Collector Archana Patnaik, Mayor P Rajkumar and Corporation Commissioner Dr K Vijayakarthikeyan deployed 15 earth movers to demolish the dwellings that have surrounded the tank.

According to official sources, the illegally constructed houses on both sides of the 30-foot channel had reduced the tank width and its carrying capacity thus pushing the waters to the north into the encroached areas. After the tank went dry on a couple of occasions in the decade, the situation turned worse as sewage starting flowing into it. This further led to the proliferation of water hyacinth, officials said.

The Tamil Nadu Slum Development Board, under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Rehabilation Mission, had provided alternative tenements constructed at a cost of Rs 28 crore on 7-acre land in Ammankulam, in 2009 . But a year later heavy rain resulted in two blocks of the tenements sinking.

Following this, 144 houses of the 936 tenements that were constructed had to be demolished. The remaining 792 units were ready for occupation and the encroachers at Valankulam were asked to move into them. But even four months after the completion of construction, only a few families occupied the units, while the rest continued to encroach the tank bed. Some had even constructed new houses illegally.

The Corporation officials had served notices on the dwellers to vacate and the notice period expired on Tuesday. As they did not vacate despite the notice, the corporation staff razed houses with earth moving equipment. Tense moments prevailed when the dwellers protested against the demolition. The encroachers were given some time to take away their belongings from the houses before the civic body brought down the illegal encroachments.