The Chennai Central District Unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) has urged the Tamil Nadu government to allot houses to over a hundred families living in inhuman conditions in a building at Kannappar Thidal here.
Unit secretary G. Selva said that around 60 homeless families living on Sydenhams Road were evicted twenty years ago when the AIADMK was in power. Although the then government had promised to give them accommodation at a different place, it was not fulfilled.
He said that the previous governments also neglected this issue. Despite the number of families increasing to about 120 over the years, they said they were housed in a single building that lacked basic amenities, including toilets.
While a headcount exercise to identify all the families has been carried out after the current DMK government came to power, Mr Selva said the families were informed by the Greater Chennai Corporation that each of them would be paid about ₹5 lakh. Have to do A house allotted through the Tamil Nadu Urban Housing Development Board.
“It is a tragedy that these families were forced to live in such a place for twenty years. There are many widows and elders. Most of the families belonged to the Scheduled Castes. It is unfair to ask these families to pay money for allotting houses,” he said.
He appealed to senior officers and ministers to inspect the location to understand the living conditions and allot houses to the residents in the surrounding location without asking for money.