The city corporation demolished 148 illegal structures along the Muthannan Kulam at Kumarasamy Nagar on Sunday, when the eviction drive entered the second day.
A city corporation official, who didn’t want to be named, said they have disconnected electricity connection to 704 houses and demolished 448 illegal structures so far and that the drive would continue in the coming days. In the first phase, only vacant houses would be demolished, the official said.
A Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) official said 1,570 of the 2,100 families residing along the waterbody had obtained tokens for relocation and that they would be shifted to the housing units at Malumichampatti, Anna Nagar in Kovai Pudur and Keeranatham.
Meanwhile, led by Coimbatore MP P R Natarajan, hundreds of residents of Kumarasamy Nagar on Sunday protested the demolition drive, which had to be halted for a while. However, the city corporation and police officials held talks with the residents and the MP, who withdrew the protest.
Speaking to reporters, Natarajan said the government was not at all concerned about the livelihood of the residents, who survive by doing odd jobs in the city, while taking all the steps to relocate them to faraway places.
According to him, the residents withdrew the protest only after officials assured them to make alternative arrangements for those who have not obtained tokens for moving into the slum clearance board’s housing units.
Natarajan said a meeting would be convened at district collector’s office on Tuesday to find a solution to the issue.
Manikandan, a resident, said, “We don’t want to move to the housing units on the outskirts of the city, as they lack public transportation facilities and other basic facilities like educational institutions and hospitals in surrounding areas. Moreover, they are in a really bad shape. The government should provide us alternative land in the neighbourhood of Kumarasamy Nagar, instead of shifting us to faraway places.”