Eviction on Marina loop road halted due to wet weather

The eviction started on Saturday, when 15 families were resettled in Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) tenements in Perumbakkam.

The eviction drive, which was supposed to continue on Monday, didn’t take place, according to official sources. A Corporation official said, “A total of 15 families have already been resettled. The rest of the families will be resettled in Perumbakkam on Tuesday. Due to the rains over the last few days, we decided to carry it out after a day.” The official added that the enumeration was conducted in advance and the families were allocated housing units in advance.

“The families, which are a mix of fisherfolk and those working in other jobs, are being resettled and not evicted without a place to go,” added the official.

Most of the families living in the locality are fisherfolk or employed in allied fisheries jobs, who depend on the sea for their livelihoods. Some of the fisherfolk refused to move, due to livelihood issues.

Vanessa Peter, policy researcher at Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC), pointed out the resettlement in Perumbakkam are leaving families, who are already economically backward, in penury.

“Since many of the families are into fishing, relocating them to Perumbakkam would mean that their source of income is lost. The authorities could have looked at an option, where they can resettle the families in-situ, like it was done in Nochi Nagar, nearby. Most of these families depend of the sea for their livelihoods, either as fisherfolk or those engaged in allied fisheries operations. This should have been taken into consideration, before the eviction of the families began,” she pointed out.

The Corporation earlier this month evicted 347 families, who were living on the banks of the Cooum river, in M.S.P. Nagar (Ward 144) in Maduravoyal and resettled these families in Gudapakkam. A week later, 46 families living on EVR Road in Aminjikarai (near Ampa Skywalk mall) were resettled in Perumbakkam.