Families living in encroachments on Jaffar Sarang Street, Narayanappa Street in Mannadi to be resettled

Enumeration drive in Mannadi by GCC and TNUHDB to remove encroachments for Customs House, facing resistance from residents.

Officials from the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) conducted an enumeration drive of people living on Jaffar Sarang Street and Narayanappa Street at Mannadi on Tuesday.

According to official sources, the enumeration drive was conducted to remove encroachments along the two roads to facilitate construction of additional buildings for the Customs House at Mannadi. During the drive, 100 families were identified for resettlement, the location for which is yet to be finalised.

Vanessa Peter, founder, Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC), a non-governmental organisation working for the urban poor, said people of Jaffar Sarang Street and Narayanappa Street had been living there for nearly four generations. Since most of them are daily wage labourers and their livelihood is concentrated in areas around Mannadi, they should be resettled in nearby areas.

During the enumeration, officials encountered resistance from a section of residents who feared that they would be evicted and relocated somewhere far. After the intervention of local political leaders, the enumeration drive went on without any disruptions.