From slums to tenements

By T. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI, FEB. 23. Mr. Harry, Mr. Munirathanam and Ms. Mala, who were till yesterday slum-dwellers on Ritchie Street in Narasingapuram, are now occupants of modest-sized tenements.

In fact, the tenements have come up at the same spot from where they along with their families were uprooted about 25 years ago.

``It is still hard to believe'', they say, as these under- privileged citizens of Chennai had not been sure of getting back their `land' until the last moment.

On Thursday, a four-storeyed building with 96 dwelling units was declared open by the Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi. Constructed in three blocks, the building, costing Rs. 99 lakhs, has been built on a plot measuring 800 sq. m. Each dwelling unit has an area of 175 sq. ft.

Mr. A. Harry, a resident of Ritchie Street for the last four decades, is particularly happy over the success of the resettlement scheme. Being the head of a co-operative housing society, formed by the slumdwellers for the purpose, he faced a heavy task in ensuring that everything went through perfectly.

The spot where the tenements have come up used to house a ``chatram''. According to Mr. Harry, 48 families were residing at the ``chatram'' at the time of evacuation in 1977. Originally intended to be a resting place for people visiting the city, ``chatram'' had, over the years, become a permanent residing place for them.

During the Emergency, the residents received a notice from the Chennai Corporation that they had been illegally occupying the place. Subsequently, they were removed from the spot and ``thrown on the street''. Since then, they had been living in slums on Ritchie Street.

In the late 1980s, when the civic body and the Slum Clearance Board decided to take steps for proper housing to the residents, they approached the Community Development Information and Action Centre (CODIAC), a city-based NGO, for help.

Mr. J. S. Raja Singh, president of the CODIAC, says his organisation carried out, in 1988-89, a survey of the residents and fixed the number at 96. ``We corroborated our figure with that of the civic body too''.

Then began the struggle for resettlement. The enthusiasm shown by officialdom during the DMK's tenure in office was not present afterwards, Mr. Raja Singh points out.

When the DMK came back to power in 1996, the efforts were revived and the former Madurai Mayor, Mr. M. Patturajan, brought the matter to the attention of the Chief Minister, who asked his Ministers, Mr. Rehman Khan and the late Nanjil Manoharan to pursue the case, the NGO chief adds.

On the basis of the recommendation of the Corporation, the Government, in July 1998, ordered that the same place, where the people were ousted, be earmarked for resettlement. Three months later, the Mayor, Mr. M. K. Stalin, laid the foundation stone.

As for funding, the major chunk has been met through a grant given by EZE, a German missionary, to the extent of Rs. 62.5 lakhs.

Of the balance amount of Rs. 36.5 lakhs, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) agreed to give a loan for Rs. 24 lakhs provided the beneficiaries came together to make their contribution.

A cooperative housing society, Ritchie Street Home for Homeless, was formed and each beneficiary contributed Rs. 8,000. ``We knew that some of them had taken loans to mop up this amount'', Mr. Stalin, secretary of the CODIAC, says.

The total contribution from all the beneficiaries was Rs. 7.68 lakhs and the NGO's assistance money Rs. 4.78 lakhs.

It is not that there are no dissenting voices. In the last three years, the number of slum dwellers has gone up. ``There are about 100 families which are left out'', Mr. Harry says. ``We are willing to get things organised for these persons if the Corporation offers some plot of land on a concessional lease'', the CODIAC president observes.

A message of the Ritchie Street experiment is that the slumdwellers came forward to assume responsibility so that they have better living conditions.

When they were in the slums, they did not have to pay for power supply or water. But, now, each beneficiary has to pay at least Rs. 600 per month towards interest on their loan and maintenance of the tenements. They were aware of these details. Still, they agreed to be part of the resettlement scheme.

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