The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Angry women greet Ministers, Mayor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 22, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Angry women greet Ministers, Mayor

Staff Reporter

Rani Anna Nagar residents say tenements are in danger of collapsing

CHENNAI : Angry women asked a VIP delegation visiting their neighbourhood on Monday to step into their Slum Clearance Board tenements at the Rani Anna Nagar in K.K. Nagar to see for themselves the wretched living conditions.

Mayor M. Subramanian accompanied Housing and Slum Clearance Minister Suba. Thangavelan and Labour Minister T.M. Anbarasan to inspect the removal of the water hyacinth obstructing the flow of the Adyar river under the Ekkatuthangal Bridge in Vasudevan Nagar. At M.G.R. Nagar in Sathyamurthy Nagar, Mr. Thangavelan announced he was allotting Slum Clearance Board land to the Corporation for setting up a park

While residents swarmed around the ministers to put forward their demands, the women in Rani Anna Nagar did not hide their wrath. They demanded that the ministers enter the tenements to see for themselves the dilapidated condition of the 24-year-old buildings. Ceilings were close to collapsing in several houses and water leaks were making life miserable, especially for those living on the upper floors, they said. The ministers visited the home of Saroja, an old woman abandoned by her family. The Slum Clearance Board had nailed wooden boards and propped them up with poles to prevent the badly damaged ceiling from caving in.

Playground

Mr. Anbarasan and the Mayor inspected the playground in K.K. Nagar First Sector, where the minister announced that he would provide Rs. 15 lakh from his constituency development fund to construct an exercise hall.

They also visited V.O.C. Street, adjacent to the Virugambakkam Canal, in Valasarawakkam.

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