CHENNAI: The State government has assured to provide new houses to CPI veteran R. Nallakannu and the family of Congress leader P. Kakkan who had to vacate the houses of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) in CIT Nagar where they have been living for years in Chennai.
On Sunday, the government said that as per the direction of the Madras High Court, a new policy is in its final stages of being drafted for allocating living quarters at a monthly rental for all those who have been active in public life and have played an important role.
A total of 119 houses were constructed in 1953 in CIT Colony. As the houses were in a dilapidated condition and deemed unfit for occupation, the TNHB sent notices to all 119 occupants, asking them to vacate the houses.
The matter then went to court and multiple petitions were filed. In July 2014, the Madras High Court issued the residents a three-month notice to vacate.
Following spontaneous outcry by political leaders and social activists who demanded in anguish that the State government to provide houses to CPI leader R. Nallakannu and the late Congress leader P. Kakkan's family, the government promised to provide them new houses.
Despite his precarious condition, Nallakannu had urged the State government to allot a house for Kakkan's kin. Stating that their present houses were in bad shape, the Chief Minister Edppadi K. Palaniswami was said to have assured that they would be relocated to a newer house as soon as possible.
Nallakannu had moved into the colony in 2007, and renovated the house with his own money. The residents of 96 houses submitted their keys to the government, and Nallakannu did the same on May 11 and shifted into a rented accommodation in K. K. Nagar.
