Chennai is fast becoming beautiful. But who is paying the price ?
Last updated on 10 February
originally published in ACJ NEWSLINE
Chennai: Arun Kumar (name changed), a Std 10 student at MCC Higher Secondary School was not too sure he wanted his photograph taken. Eating on the pavement with his family, he implored: “Please sir, please don’t take my photo. If other students of my school see me like this, then I won’t be able to go to school again.” Arun Kumar is one of the many school going children who were evicted from the slums in the city. Their families had been living in there for a long while, and had been relocated (‘rehabilitated,’ being the official term) to an area where they had not wanted to go.
He was still in his school uniform on the pavement of the Choolaimedu Bridge across the River Cooum at dusk. His mother, Arul Mani, was insisting that he finish his meal so that they could return to the Semmanchery slum rehabilitation centre where they were put up. “Though our houses have been demolished and though we have been relocated at Semmanchery, we still live here most of our time. If someone is going for a ‘court stay’ on the eviction, I will be the first to join them,” said an angry Arul Mani.
The rehabilitation centre is about 40 kms away from their earlier house in Jyotiyammal Nagar. Arun’s school starts at 8:30 in the morning and from Semmanchery, he can never manage to reach school on time. “I get scolded by my teacher everyday for this. The principal asked me to take a TC and leave the school if I repeatedly arrived late,” complained Arun. “My school was only 1km away from my house. I reach the new house very late in the night. So my mother chooses to serve me dinner on the pavement near our old house and we return home together after that.”
Jyotiyammal Nagar and Mukastaling Nagar, situated along the bank of the River Cooum on both sides of the Choolaimedu Bridge, were home for about 3,000 and 2,000 families respectively. Three months ago, both the slums were demolished in the name of the “Cooum Cleaning” project.
As a consequence, small makeshift tents of the homeless families came up on the pavements on both sides of the Choolaimedu Bridge. Families from Jyotiyammal Nagar had occupied the left side pavement of the bridge and those from Mukastaling Nagar the right side. “We are 20 families living here on the bridge. Other families who didn’t get houses at the rehabilitation centre stayed in rented huts in the nearby colonies. Families, relegated to the pavement, are the ones who can’t afford the rent amount,” Rajkumar, an auto-driver living in one of those tents with his family had told on my last visit on December 23, last year.
Now the bridge has been cleared of those plastic tents. But some families including old men, women and school going children, still live there. They belonged to the group left out of the rehabilitation process for not having identification proofs.
“Some 20 days ago police destroyed all the tents and asked us to leave the pavements. But we had no other place to go. And nobody here knows where the others have gone,” said one man living there. They were denied new houses as they had lost their ration cards when the river had reached their huts during the last monsoon.
He was still in his school uniform on the pavement of the Choolaimedu Bridge across the River Cooum at dusk. His mother, Arul Mani, was insisting that he finish his meal so that they could return to the Semmanchery slum rehabilitation centre where they were put up. “Though our houses have been demolished and though we have been relocated at Semmanchery, we still live here most of our time. If someone is going for a ‘court stay’ on the eviction, I will be the first to join them,” said an angry Arul Mani.
The rehabilitation centre is about 40 kms away from their earlier house in Jyotiyammal Nagar. Arun’s school starts at 8:30 in the morning and from Semmanchery, he can never manage to reach school on time. “I get scolded by my teacher everyday for this. The principal asked me to take a TC and leave the school if I repeatedly arrived late,” complained Arun. “My school was only 1km away from my house. I reach the new house very late in the night. So my mother chooses to serve me dinner on the pavement near our old house and we return home together after that.”
Jyotiyammal Nagar and Mukastaling Nagar, situated along the bank of the River Cooum on both sides of the Choolaimedu Bridge, were home for about 3,000 and 2,000 families respectively. Three months ago, both the slums were demolished in the name of the “Cooum Cleaning” project.
As a consequence, small makeshift tents of the homeless families came up on the pavements on both sides of the Choolaimedu Bridge. Families from Jyotiyammal Nagar had occupied the left side pavement of the bridge and those from Mukastaling Nagar the right side. “We are 20 families living here on the bridge. Other families who didn’t get houses at the rehabilitation centre stayed in rented huts in the nearby colonies. Families, relegated to the pavement, are the ones who can’t afford the rent amount,” Rajkumar, an auto-driver living in one of those tents with his family had told on my last visit on December 23, last year.
Now the bridge has been cleared of those plastic tents. But some families including old men, women and school going children, still live there. They belonged to the group left out of the rehabilitation process for not having identification proofs.
“Some 20 days ago police destroyed all the tents and asked us to leave the pavements. But we had no other place to go. And nobody here knows where the others have gone,” said one man living there. They were denied new houses as they had lost their ration cards when the river had reached their huts during the last monsoon.
The Choolaimedu Bridge group and the people lingering in makeshift huts is a precursor to the larger issues involved in the slum eviction-rehabilitation processes in the city. The whole idea of singara (beautiful) Chennai, a term coined by M.K Stalin while he was the Mayor of the city, has affected more than one lakh families living in slums. The slum rehabilitation centres in the city constructed by the State Slum Clearance Board have no proper facilities for water, electricity or medical coverage. Since the rehabilitation centres are far away from the places where they used to live, the squatters find it difficult to find jobs in such new areas. Students suffer the worst as they have to travel a long distance to reach their school from their new homes.
Meghanathan, a young man from Jyotiyammal Nagar recalled how Deputy Chief Minister MK Stalin had talked on TV so passionately about singara Chennai. “He (Stalin) said that there won’t be any more huts in the city which look so odd. He also said that all of those huts will be cleared off within some more years,” said Meghanathan. “The City will become beautiful but we are the scars,” he added heaving a sigh.
Meghanathan, a young man from Jyotiyammal Nagar recalled how Deputy Chief Minister MK Stalin had talked on TV so passionately about singara Chennai. “He (Stalin) said that there won’t be any more huts in the city which look so odd. He also said that all of those huts will be cleared off within some more years,” said Meghanathan. “The City will become beautiful but we are the scars,” he added heaving a sigh.
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