Houses For Slum Dwellers

Minister for Slum Clearance and Accommodation Control Suba Thangavelan unveils a commemorative plaque to mark the laying of the foundation for a project for houses for slum dwellers in Coimbatore on Monday. Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board Managing Director T.K. Ramachandran (right), Rural Industries Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy (second left) and Mayor R. Venkatachalam (left) are in the picture. The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board is constructing earthquake-resistant multi-storeyed apartments for slum dwellers in Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore, Minister for Slum Clearance and Accommodation Control Suba Thangavelan said here on Monday.

Laying the foundation for a project to construct 3,840 houses for slum dwellers in Coimbatore city under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), he said the State Government was focussed on the welfare of the urban poor. This was reflected in the schemes, including housing, that were being implemented. In the last two-and-a-half years, 55,000 houses had been constructed. This year, tenders would be finalised for 1.05 lakh houses.

The Minister warned contractors against poor quality of houses. “There will be stringent monitoring and we will conduct surprise checks,” he said. “When we come here every month to review the progress of the scheme, we will check whether the pace of work is according to the time-schedule in the agreement.” Apart from the focus on new houses, the Government had allocated Rs.47.87 crore for carrying out repairs to 27,324 houses of the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board. Of these, 560 were in Coimbatore.

Referring to reluctance on the part of some people to shift out of buildings in poor condition at Selvapuram here, the Minister said they should have faith in the Government. They, probably, felt that they would not be able to get back to the house they had been living in for years. Actually, the Government wanted to only carry out repairs and not evict the people. They could stay elsewhere for 15 days to enable repair works. To create better housing, the slum dwellers should also co-operate. The people should move out of the hutments to facilitate their removal and the construction of good concrete houses in their place.

Minister for Rural Industries and Animal Husbandry recalled how difficult it was to convince the slum dwellers on Valankulam during the last elections that houses would be built for them. “We told them very clearly that it would not be possible to build houses on tanks as the Supreme Court had ordered action against the encroachment of water bodies,” he said. There were 12,000 families in the slums across the city. These many houses were needed to make the city slum-free. While the people on Valankulam (the tank near Sungam) would get houses under the project at Ammankulam, 2,232 houses would be built for people living on water bodies elsewhere in the city.

Mayor R. Venkatachalam said the Ammankulam project was important to the people living on the tank because water entered their huts during monsoon. Responding to an observation by the TNSCB Managing Director T.K. Ramachandran that the Coimbatore Corporation’s role in providing amenities to the housing colonies was vital, the Mayor said that roads, drainage, street lights and water supply would be provided. Mr. Ramachandran said that out of the 3,840 houses, 1,608 would come up on 15 acres of Government land at Ammankulam at Rs.44.60 crore. The rest would be built on 15 acres of the Corporation at Ukkadam at Rs.59.31 crore.

The apartment at Ukkadam would have five floors apart from the ground floor and the one at Ammankulam would have three. As many as 35,000 houses were to be built under the JNNURM in the State and 13,000 for those affected by tsunami. Another 15,000 would be built for the people displaced by the Maduravoyal-Chennai Port road project. National Road Safety Council member and former Member of Parliament M. Ramanathan, Deputy Mayor N. Karthik, Corporation zone chairman P. Pynthamil and S.M. Samy were among those who spoke.

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