Thursday, July 4, 2013

TNSCB seeks Rs 640 crore from Coum Restoration Trust to resettle families squatting on Couum banks

C Shivakumar
Chennai:
Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board has sought Rs 640 crore funds from the Chennai River Restoration Trust to construct 18,000 tenements to resettle slum families squatting on the Cooum riverbanks.

A TNSCB source told Express that the funds have been sought after Chennai Corporation enumerated the number of settlements along the banks of Cooum river.

Interestingly, this comes in the wake of public consultation held on environmental restoration of Cooum river and river front development. The rough estimated cost of river front development that would have cycle tracks and parks is around Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 3,500 crore.

Interestingly, the public consultation, which was conducted by Chennai River Restoration Trust, Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Limited (TNUIFSL) and the Spanish technical consultant of the project LKS, at the Public Works Department conference hall has been opposed by people and civil rights activists that beautification of river should not be done at the cost of relocating human settlements from the banks to far off places.

TNSCB sources said that the 18,000 tenements are in addition to the 20,000 tenements being constructed in Perumbakkam.

TNSCB sources also said that they have also sought land to construct the houses. “In one acre we can construct 120 tenements. We have sought land as well as funds,” said the slum clearance board source.

He said once the project proposal is cleared by CRRT, there would be adequate funds to resettle families and clear the river of encroachments.

According to state government estimates, about 13.96 lakh families (59 lakh persons) are living in the urban slums in Tamil Nadu. Similarly, a report of Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation estimates the slum population in Tamil Nadu at 86.44 lakh in 2011.

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