A day after the Coimbatore Corporation began the long-pending task of demolishing encroachments on the Muthannankulam tank bund, the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India(Marxist) and a few other parties staged a protest near the tank, on Thadagam Road, on Sunday.
Member of Parliament, P.R. Natarajan, who is from the CPI(M), former MLA M. Arumugham, CPI(M) district secretary V. Ramamoorthy and members of the DMK, MDMK squatted on the Road, blocking the movement of vehicles.
Mr. Natarajan said the Corporation taking up the drive to evict people from buildings that had long served as their homes during the COVID-19 period, when livelihood was under threat, was wrong.
His party had come to understand that neither the Corporation nor the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB), which constructed alternative houses for the families evicted from the tank, had issued tokens for allotment of alternative houses to all those who resided on the tank bund.
Therefore, the party’s demand was that the Corporation should not demolish the houses of those who did not get the allotment tokens and would remain there.
Mr. Arumugham said the protesters demand was that if vacant houses abutted houses with occupants, the Corporation should not demolish those – at least till Tuesday, when there would be a meeting with the district administration and Corporation to decide the fate of those without tokens.
Mr. Natarajan said that the protesters another demand was that the Corporation or the TNSCB should consider constructing the alternative houses on Sundaram Street, R.S. Puram, or in Selvapuram for those without tokens, as originally promised at the time of issuing allotment tokens for others.
After the protesters blocked the traffic, senior Corporation and City Police officials rushed to the spot to hold talks. Sources in the Corporation said it was at the talks that a decision was taken to hold talks on Tuesday. But the Corporation was going ahead with demolishing vacant houses and by evening had demolished 148 houses. On Saturday, the Corporation had demolished 300 houses.
