347 families evicted from Maduravoyal for river project

While removing encroachments will help Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT) to revive the river, the future looks bleak for the evicted families who have been resettled at tenements at Gudapakkam in Poonamallee. 41-year-old Selvi S watched helplessly as trucks carried away her belongings from the locality they called home for three decades. For Selvi who works as a domestic help in MSP Nagar houses, finding jobs in the new locality is difficult. 

“I don’t know how I can commute all the way to the houses that I work in at Maduravoyal.” She added, “We heard that there are not many employment opportunities at Gudapakkam. My daughter got married recently and I had to take a loan for it. I don’t know how I will repay it now.” For Yuvaraj, a coolie, it is the future of his children – who study at a private school in Maduravoyal — that is at stake. 

“My son is in Class 7 while my daughter is in Class 5. We are working hard so that our children get a good education. Now, we can neither shift them to the government schools in the new locality nor do we have the money to pay fees again in a private school there,” Yuvaraj said. Of those evicted, there are 177 students – 17 students are in Class 10, while eight of them are in Class 12. An official from the Education Department of the Greater Chennai Corporation, said that the civic body has maintained a record of the number of students. 

“Children who have been studying in the government schools can be transferred to the two government schools in Gudapakkam,” said an official. Meanwhile, Corporation Commissioner D. Karthikeyan said that the residents were notified about the eviction. 

“Every time it rains, families living on the banks of the river worry about their safety and live in the fear of their houses being washed away.” He added, “During the 2015 floods, the entire area was submerged and we had to rescue the families. Now, they are getting a permanent home worth Rs 16 lakh each. In the long term, this will turn out to be a good move.”