Encroachments invite danger from vehicles

times of india, 22may 2009, chennai edition, page no.3

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Encroachments invite danger from vehicles
Julie Mariappan | TNN

Chennai: Hardly a day passes without an accident occurring on the Taramani Link Road. Hundreds of motorists from Velachery, Pallikarnai and Medavakkam have a tough time navigating the stretch as several families have encroached the road. A broad estimate reveals that at least 300 families have made the roadside their home for more than a decade.
The families, initially about 50 of them, were brought by a contractor engaged by the Chennai Metrowater Supply and Sewerage Board to lay pipelines in Velachery.
“From 100 metres, they have encroached on more than a kilometre now. But the government is not interested in rehabilitating them,” said S Kumararaja, general secretary, Federation of Velachery Residents Welfare Association. Encroachments are not confined to the Taramani Link Road. There are squatter families on P T Rajan Salai and Kamarajar Salai in K K Nagar; 11th Avenue in Ashok Nagar; and Rattan Bazaar near N S K Bose Road in Parry’s. They vie for space with cabs at night. A spurt in the number of accidents involving pavement dwellers in recent months has only exposed the lackaidaiscal attitude of government machinery, said activist V Gopalakrishnanan. “In spite of our repeated attempts to evict them we couldn’t succeed as the hutment dwellers enjoy political backing,” a Chennai Corporation senior official said.