CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) managing director Shreya P Singh assured the 20 residents of Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) scheme houses in Chitra Nagar on Wednesday that the new tenements in Kotturpuram will not be allotted to anyone else.
These residents had staged a protest on May 30 to bring attention to the dilapidated condition of their houses that were built several decades ago.
In the letter submitted to the official, they said their livelihood was affected during the monsoon due to stagnation of sewage and rainwater inside the houses, and increasing mosquito menace. They have been raising this issue for several years, which led to multiple inspections, the biometric identification process was completed for 195 houses, and a recommendation for housing allotment was submitted to the Chennai Corporation Commissioner.
“It is deeply disappointing that we still have not received our housing allotments despite all the administrative work being complete,” they said in the letter.
To avoid any untoward incidents during the upcoming monsoon that is just a few months away, the board should allot houses in Blocks I and J of the TNUHDB Kotturpuram tenement to the 195 VAMBAY residents on humanitarian grounds, they demanded.
"The land and houses are still with the board. The house was valued at Rs 24,000 in 2004, but only 30 of the 195 families paid the full amount. So we asked the MD to give the details of the houses and the remaining amount in the next couple of days," KR Kathir Murugan, the councillor of Ward 170, told DT Next.
A senior official from the TNUHDB said the Chitra Nagar residents living in VAMBAY houses sought allotments in the Kotturpuram TNUHDB tenement. They are currently living in houses built under a scheme where they can own the property by clearing their dues.
"The residents have requested houses under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category for Rs 1.5 lakh, even though the units are valued at Rs 10.5 lakh. We have informed the government of their demand, and we assured them that these houses will not be allocated to anyone else," the official added.