News Comment: Chennai Slums: Who Created Them?
CHENNAI: Houses of about three lakh people living along the city's waterways are facing demolition. Authorities are preparing for an all-out eviction drive against encroachers along the Adyar and Cooum rivers and Buckingham Canal under the Chennai City River Conservation Project ( CCRCP ). The official estimate of the number of families facing eviction is 33,313. Of these, residents of 8,164 tenements — nearly 40,000 people — who live in areas that hinder the ongoing desilting efforts will be evicted and resettled on the city outskirts. "Nearly 6,624 families have encroached upon the banks of the Adyar , 8,266 along the Cooum and 18,243 along Buckingham Canal. All of them will be resettled and efforts will be made to provide them alternative livelihood opportunities where they are relocated," Department of Environment officials — the nodal agency for CCRCP — told this newspaper. It is a grand move b...