Road widening project leaves fisherfolk homeless

Srinivas, a 45-year-old fisherman, said, “Our families have been living here for generations. Two months ago, we were told by the district administration that we must vacate for the road widening project. We have no idea where to go,” he rued. 

P R Mahendran, a resident of the locality, said that the government had promised to give them an alternative location, near the sea. “The officials told us that the temple land near the Thiyagarajaswamy temple would be allocated to us. But that survey number was different from the one mentioned on the document given to us, which didn’t exist. 

We were given the option to go to a housing tenement in AIR Colony in Ernavur but since it was far from our livelihoods, it wasn’t an option,” he explained. Tracing the chronology of events, Bharathi K, president of South India Fishermen's Welfare Association, said the confusion of the survey numbers put the fisherfolk families in a quandary. 

“At a public event two months ago, Collector of Tiruvallur, E Sundaravalli, said that if the families vacated their current homes, they will be allocated permanent homes on the temple land. The families were ready to vacate the next day, but the persons from another fishing village in Tiruvottiyur created an issue, saying that the temple land belonged to them. From then on, our representations to the government received no clear response. 

Furthermore, the confusion with the survey numbers too created fear among the families,” said the fisherman. The opposing party has been evicted from the temple land, said an official. 

“We gave the 440 families two options – resettlement in the units in AIR Colony or a permanent house on the temple land, which will be built by the TNSCB. This will take two years, until which time, these families can live in rented homes. We have given Rs 20,000 per family for this. As of now, a temporary government order has been given to transfer the temple land to the TNSCB,” clarified the official.