Leaving behind coast and livelihood: Mullimanagar residents soon evicted for Marina loop road expansion

CHENNAI: As the day breaks on Tuesday, 41 families of Mullimanagar in Foreshore Estate will wake up to an uncertain fate. Engaged in fishing and ancillary activities all their lives, these families will have to leave their livelihoods behind for the sake of their new homes, in the TN Slum Clearance Board tenements in Perumbakkam 20 km from Mullimanagar.

In a last-ditch effort to prevent the shifting, the residents are hopeful of arriving at an internal arrangement to allow 41 other families in the locality employed in non-fishing activities to take their place in the Perumbakkam tenements, in exchange for their homes close to the sea.

“Since they are not dependent on the sea, they can survive in a place like Perumbakkam. So we are planning to ask them to shift there so that we can stay here near the sea,” said Ravi K, who is part of the local ‘panchayat’ that comprises 19 members from the fishing hamlets near the Marina beach, an informal body to resolve local issues.

The representatives of the ‘panchayat’ were to take the issue up for discussion from Sunday evening, hoping to arrive at a settlement among themselves before Tuesday, when evictions are to resume.
The Greater Chennai Corporation evicted 15 families on Friday for the Marina loop road expansion project and the remaining would be evicted on Tuesday. “We had asked them for houses in Nochikuppam or to build a few apartments here after demolishing all houses instead of just 41. That way, we can still fish but they are saying going to Perumbakkam is our only option,” said Agnes F, a resident in the area for around 50 years.

“I’m 25 years old and I don’t know where Perumbakam is or what our new homes look like. They say it’s near Sholinganallur but I don’t know. For us, this place has been everything,” said Suganya M, whose fish stall is one of the many that line the loop road. A Corporation official said that the service road is already being laid and only those houses that absolutely needed to be cleared will be removed.