55,000 beneficiaries of TNSCB schemes along waterways likely to get sale deed

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Fifty five thousand beneficiaries of slum clearance board schemes along the waterways are likely to get their sale deed three decades after the implementation of the projects.

A high level meeting held last week discussed the legality of the schemes, implemented under the Madras Urban Development Project and Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project three decades ago by relaxing the norms along the waterways. The beneficiaries could not be provided with sale deed since the land being a PWD water course land could not be transferred to TNSCB.

The meeting decided that the alienation of water course lands to Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board may be expedited by instructing PWD to give no objection certificate to revenue department. Sources said this would ensure speedy issuance of sale deed to the beneficiaries.

The eri-promboke land which were discussed during the meeting include Ullagaram Karunanidhi scheme, Selaiyur Bharath Nagar, Anna Nagar Thundalam, Anna Nagar Thundalam II, Nehru Nagar Phase I, Velachery, K R Ramasamy Nagar, Velachery and Valluvar Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur.

Interestingly, the meeting was also held in the wake of a July 2012 High Court order to issue sale deed to 55,000 beneficiaries of TNSCB under MUDP and TNUDP schemes.

Surprisingly, Supreme Court last year has ordered directing state governments to prepare schemes for eviction of illegal or unauthorized occupants of gram sabha, gram panchayat or promboke lands and they must be used for common use. 

Sources said the World Bank assisted MUDP I and II schemes of Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board was implemented three decade ago to provide basic infrastructure facilities along with land tenure to slum dwellers who were occupying various categories of land like government promboke land, corporation land, railways land, salt land, port trust land, temple lands and private land.

Interestingly, a government order was passed in 1979 ordering that the lands be transferred to TNSCB free of cost. After the two MUDP schemes, Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project was also implemented.

TNSCB sources said that during that period there was no High Court or Supreme Court order against alienation of watercourse lands to the scheme. Surprisingly, the government in 1998 permitted TNSCB to enter government promboke lands even under banned categories for carrying out the slum improvement projects.

Currently, about 67 scheme areas located in water course lands were provided to TNSCB relaxing the rules of revenue department.  Now the schemes are well settled human habitats but lack infrastructure facilities. Sources say during the meeting it was felt that the implementation of slum improvement programme by government agency like TNSCB is not illegal as it is a government agency trying to provide infrastructure facilities for poor.