Date:26/01/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/01/26/stories/2005012613310300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Fresh enumeration on January 27

By Karthik Subramanian

CHENNAI, JAN. 25 . The Chennai Corporation is pressing ahead with the construction of temporary shelters for the tsunami-affected at Sattankaadu and Okkiyam Thoraipakkam outside the city limits at a cost of Rs.4.4 crores.

But the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, which is enumerating the beneficiaries of the housing scheme, is confronted with non-cooperative residents who are not inclined to move out.

Residents of the seaside colonies now fear eviction, as officials have said that those living within 300 metres of the high tide line will be relocated.

The situation is particularly grim in the southern fishing colonies including Srinivasapuram, where the residents have so far prevented government officials from carrying out the enumeration. A fresh enumeration in southern fishermen hamlets will start again on January 27. "We will start listing persons living away from the shore and take up the seaward lanes in the final phase," an official said.

Encroachments

There are 10 fishing kuppams in the Mylapore-Triplicane taluk and five in Fort Tondiarpet taluk. Most of the houses in the kuppams are encroachments on lands belonging to the Public Works Department, the Fisheries Department and the Chennai Port Trust. In some cases, particularly in Sattankaadu, Power Kuppam and Anna Nagar, the houses have come up less than 10 metres from the seashore. The families have been residing there for over three decades.

More than 4,500 temporary houses have been planned at Sattankaadu near Ennore and Okkiyam Thoraipakkam beyond Thiruvanmiyur.

K. Shanmugavelayutham, coordinator for Chennai Slum Dwellers Rights' Movement, a non-governmental organisation, cites two reasons for the residents non-cooperation: First, at least in Foreshore Estate and other southern fishing colonies, most of the affected are those who are not owners of houses that were washed away but tenants.

There have been clashes among tenants and owners on who should be the beneficiaries of the relief packages. Second, the tsunami victims include non-fishermen, such as contract workers, who fear that moving out of the city limits would reduce their chances of getting work.