Appeal for Housing Rights and Zero Evictions in Tamil Nadu, India
We, associations of inhabitants, international networks, voluntary groups, NGOs, public agencies, citizens of the world, express our indignation and denounce the massive forced evictions, carried out by the government of Tamil Nadu, India, from 23 November 2006, rendering around 30,000 people homeless in Chennai, including around 5,000 students. Three people died, among them a three-year-old girl who fell into the water.
A further million evictions are waiting to happen all over the state of Tamil Nadu to clear all encroachments on Government land.
The people who were living in the Porur lake area were forcefully evicted without any prior notification or announcement, when police arrived in large numbers with earth movers and bulldozers to demolish all the settlements. It was particularly shocking for these people that such a thing could happen when all government officials had promised them full facilities and when the area had already been provided with a full electricity supply, a sub post office and public call offices. People are now out in the open with whatever belongings they managed to salvage from the demolished site. Women and children are sitting under the scorching sun with no provision for alternate housing, and schoolchildren are unable to attend classes.