As part of its project to make Coimbatore slum-free, the Coimbatore Corporation and Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board have cleared over 50 slums.

Officials in the Board said that 4,047 families had shifted to its tenements after the Coimbatore Corporation demolished their houses that they had built encroaching upon water bodies or roads or lived along railway track.

As many as 158 of the 199 families from seven slums or encroachments had moved to the tenements in Malai Nagar. Likewise 262 of the 468 families from three encroachments have moved to the Anna Nagar tenements.

The officials say that 206 families from Muthannankulam, Thadagam Road, will soon move out and they are likely to start the eviction drive in the days to come. Likewise, 441 of the 1,266 families from five slums have moved to the Malumichampatty tenements. Those who have not moved are 825 families that have encroached upon the Muthannankulam, along Sundapalayam Road.

Of the 1,216 families that are supposed to move into new tenements in Ukkadam, only 180 have shifted. The rest of the families have sought time till the end of Ramzan and thereafter they have agreed to move.

Among the 2,611 beneficiaries to whom the Board has allotted houses in Vellalore, 2,140 have shifted, vacating 17 slums. Families in the remaining eight slums have not moved out for various reasons and the Board is working out a solution.

In the Keeranatham project, 866 of the 1,166 families have occupied the houses and the rest have moved the court for one reason or another, the officials add.

The complaints from people, who have moved to the tenements, are that they face connectivity problem, lacking easy access to schools and workplace.

K. Rahmathullah, who moved into a flat in the Board’s Vellalore project from Azad Nagar, says the water supply is irregular. “Back in Azad Nagar, the Corporation supplied water alternate days. But here in Vellalore because of various reasons, the water supply is irregular.” The potable water supply is only once a week, which should be looked into.

In other tenements the complaints are about poor bus connectivity and how students were forced to travel more to reach their schools.

But there have also been positive feedback. “One of the many benefits of having moved out to the Keeranatham tenement is that we live in a healthy environment. Extended family members, who were earlier reluctant to stay overnight, now do so without any reservations,” says R. Mariraj, who shifted from Periyar Nagar.The taxi driver also says the Board officials were quick in helping his children get admission in the nearby government school.

A Board officer, on condition of anonymity, says that the organisation not just allots houses to families, but provides skill development training to youth who discontinued schooling, assistance in getting jobs and also works with the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation in arranging buses to ensure that in the new area the residents have all facilities.