CHENNAI: Government buildings encroaching Cooum riverbanks will soon have to face the bulldozers if the Chennai Corporation Deputy Commissioner (Works) really meant what he said while evicting laymen from banks of the Cooum. Based on the report of the Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT), the Greater Chennai Corporation had begun evicting encroachments along Cooum and Adyar rivers. In one such move, the civic body, on Friday evicted 387 families from Muthu Mariamman Nagar, Arumbakkam, who made Cooum river bank their home. M. Govinda Rao, Deputy Commissioner (Works), and other officials supervised the eviction drive.
“The eviction drive has been conducted with the full cooperation of the public. The enumeration process is going on to find residents who were deprived of Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board houses,” M. Govinda Rao said. The deputy commissioner also asserted that the government buildings encroaching the river bank will be evicted. “If Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) building is found encroaching the river, the corporation will demolish the building,” M. Govinda Rao added. There is an allegation that the TNPCB office is built on the encroached land of Cooum bank at Arumbakkam.
“Of the evicted 387 families, 281 families are given houses in Navalur, built by Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board. In all, 156 families are allotted with houses at Tiruvottiyur in Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board apartment,” a Chennai corporation press release said. Chennai corporation also assured the evicted residents of easy and smooth processing of address change applications in voter identification cards and ration cards. In a press statement, Chennai corporation commissioner D. Karthikeyan said that the eviction drive would continue for a couple more days. As many as 5,383 families were evicted from Cooum and Adyar river banks and allotted new houses, according to CRRT report, Karthikeyan added.
