Eight years on, Auto Nagar still faces starting trouble

Even while facing the threat of their establishments – and thus livelihood – being razed to ground by earthmovers, hundreds of shop owners from Chennai’s informal auto hub on the banks of Cooum river at Pudupet and Chintadripet are refusing to move to Auto Nagar, the exclusive zone earmarked for auto spare parts traders at Appur near Singaperumal Koil. According to them, there are hardly any facilities for them to set up shops, and at 100 km round trip from the city, the place is too far off for them to continue business.

The move to translocate the traders came in 2010 as part of the measures to restore the city’s river under Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT), and also because the area falls under the proposed course of Ennore-Maduravoyal Elevated Expressway.

As the traders remain reluctant to move out, the PWD’s eviction drive has been ongoing. Last month, officials had removed auto spares shops and workshops that functioned on encroached lands on the banks of Cooum. According to traders in Pudupet, nearly 450 shops were razed on that day.

The main apprehension for shop owners is that their business would suffer. “Appur is located more than 50 kilometres away from the city, with no proper transportation. The government should increase the frequency of trains to Singaperumal Koil and operate feeder MTC services from the railway station to Auto Nagar,” said Mohammed Hussain Sait, vice president of Bus Spare Parts and Scraped Iron Traders Association.

According to Sait, the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) has allotted only land parcels to the shop owners, but there was no other support to set up their business in this ‘far away land’ afresh. “Not all the shop owners can afford to build new shops. If the board arranges loans for the poor shop owners, we are ready to pay it back in instalments,” he said.

Other than the shop on the river bank, Sait owns another shop on Adithanar Road, and has thus escaped from being crippled by the eviction and demolition drive. “However, many who ran their shops on the banks have nowhere to go. To continue business, some of them moved to nearby buildings or opened shops in their houses,” Sait added.

A Ali Akbar is one such trader, whose shop was brought down recently. Since then, he moved to a rented establishment to run his shop. Many others like him and also mechanics who functioned from Pudupet are still occupying the open space with only a chair, and also serve customers at their houses. “Fearing that they might lose regular customers, many of them keep their stocks at their houses and sit on the roadside,” Akbar said.

“The Slum Clearance Board is yet to create water, electricity and other infrastructure facilities. Even if one or two shop owners agree to go to Appur, they will lose business because customers would still come to Pudupet or Chintadripet,” he added.

There are exclusive facilities similar to Auto Nagar at several other cities including Mumbai, Delhi and Vijayawada, which have succeeded. “If the government helps us to move in collective numbers by providing loans to build shops, Chennai’s Auto Nagar will become a huge success. The proposed Auto Nagar is now lying deserted without even a building. All the allotments should be given immediately so that we can move to Appur,” Hussain Sait said.

Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board has proposed to develop the Auto Nagar in two phases; the allotments for the first phase have been completed, officials said. “The Auto Nagar is coming up on 44 acres of land, and 1,657 allotments will be given in two phases,” a board official said.

During late 1980s, the government had planned to set up the zone near Sathangadu in north Chennai. However, the plan had to be shelved as shop owners remained unyielding, refusing to vacate Cooum banks.