A section of people, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), staged a demonstration at the Kesava Pillai Park (K.P. Park) in Pulianthope on Friday against Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board’s demand of ₹1.5 lakh from families for allotment of houses.
These families were earlier residing at the TNSCB settlements at the same spot. They were told to vacate in 2018 as TNSCB wanted to demolish and build new tenements.
G. Selva, secretary, Chennai Central district, CPI (M), said while the tenements were ready to be allotted to 864 families, the allottees were shocked when they were told to pay ₹1.5 lakh as their share.
A Government Order issued by the Housing and Urban Development department in 2020 enabled TNSCB to charge a fraction of the construction cost from the allottees for certain types of tenements.
Mr. Selva said the families were not informed about any such need to pay while being vacated in 2018.
“The government passed an order in 2020 and is now trying to implement it retrospectively for this project. The order itself must be scrapped as TNSCB is building houses for urban poor, who cannot afford such money,” he said.
One of the allottees, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were not in a position to pay ₹1.5 lakh. “In another apartment block at the same place, people residing along the Cooum are being resettled. They do not have to pay any money. However, we have been residing here for a long time and it was TNSCB that wanted to demolish and reconstruct our houses. It is unfair to demand money from us,” he said.
Mr. Selva said while attempts were made to arrange loans for the people through a private housing company for the money, repayment with interest would be unaffordable for the people as COVID-19 had hit their paltry income.
