Corpn reimburses residents of slum clearance board units

COIMBATORE: Municipal administration minister SP Velumani on Sunday issued cheques worth a total of 44.75lakh to 148 people, who had paid the amount to book houses in the housing units of the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB).

Before they shifted to the units, the beneficiaries were staying in tenements on city corporation lands along roads and water bodies. The civic body, which was planning to speed up the lake restoration and rejuvenation projects under the smart city mission, had launched a drive to evacuate them. They were provided alternative accommodation at the units and were asked to book them by shelling out 36,000.

Later, the corporation agreed to repay the amount from the smart city fund. “TNSCB was conducting talks to sell the units to the civic body. As the talks were on hold, the board collected the amount from those for whom the houses were allotted. After the corporation decided to pay for the beneficiaries, the board decided to return the money. So far, the corporation has paid over 12crore of the 22crore,” a TNSCB official said.

Of the 148 people who were repaid, 100 are staying in the TNSCB unit at Malai Nagar and 48 in the Anna Nagar unit. While some of them had paid the booking amount in full, others were paying in instalments. All of them were removed from various parts of the city including Kottaimedu, Selvapuram EB Colony, Perur Main Road and PK Pudhur Main Road.

While there are 960 apartments in the Anna Nagar unit, the Malai Nagar unit has 224. Each apartment has an area of 400sqft.

Allotting apartments in the Anna Nagar unit to 170 people, the minister said that buses from Anna Nagar till Cheran Managar through Gandhipuram, Ganapathi and VOC will commence service from Sunday. “The units have been provided with drinking water, street lights and new roads,” he said.

TNSCB did not collect money from the new occupants, the TNSCB official said.