Slum Dwellers Resist Moves For Relocation
Members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and slum dwellers stage a demonstration in the city on Monday against the move to evict families encroaching water bodies. People living in slums on tanks near R.S. Puram in the city staged a demonstration on Monday to oppose moves by the Coimbatore Corporation to relocate them under two schemes to be implemented under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme will provide houses with all basic amenities for the poor sections. The Rejuvenation of Water Bodies scheme aims to rid eight tanks in the city of slums.The Corporation plans to relocate the families in these slums in tenements that it plans to build.The water resources rejuvenation scheme aims at conserving the tanks after removing silt and slums and strengthening the bunds. The relocation of the people living on the tanks hinges on the BSUP scheme, especially the third phase. This phase involves the acquiring of lands for the relocation.
Led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) councillor S. Velmurugan and party members, about 350 people living in slums on tanks off Thadagam Road raised slogans to press their demand that the Corporation build houses at the places where they lived now. The protestors included 250 women living in the slums. Claiming that it would not be possible for them to leave these places, the Councillor said in a petition addressed to District Collector V. Palanikumar that efforts must be made to build houses on the Public Works Department’s lands. When some portions of the tanks had been occupied by a power station, a bus stand and other Government establishments, the case of the poor people should also be considered, he said.
