NAPM Condemns the Forced Evictions in Sathyavani Muthu Nagar and Thangavel Street, Chennai in the Midst of the Pandemic

NAPM India
Jan 3, 2021

 

Calls for nationwide moratorium on evictions at least until June 2021

Centre and State Govts must uphold the right to life, livelihoods and housing with dignity of the urban working class 

3rd Jan, 2021: National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) is deeply disturbed and outraged at the continuing evictions of working people from their houses in multiple localities in Chennai, including at Sathyavani Muthu Nagar and Thangavel Street. Such apathetic eviction drives, especially in the midst of a pandemic, that only seem to prey on the historically oppressed and the marginalized communities, reveal the casteist and elitist leanings of the state machinery, in the garb of ‘development’ and ‘city planning’.

Evictions at Sathyavani Muthu Nagar:

We are appalled that municipal authorities have demolished around 40 houses in Sathyavani Muthu Nagar (SM Nagar), a few weeks back, leaving many families homeless. SM Nagar is one of the largest slums in the country where around 2,100 families lived. However, in the last two years, close to 80 per cent of the families have been evicted for ‘river restoration’ projects. (Omjasvin, Dec 2020).

Exactly in the winter of last year (Dec, 2019), officials from various departments including the Chennai police, slum clearance authorities and the state public works department forcibly evicted “around 3500 settlements along the Cooum river near Triplicane” under the Cooum river eco-restoration project. The move left the residents including school-going children homeless overnight, sparking protests among the residents (Jayarajan, Dec 2019; Viswanathan, Nov 2020). However, authorities continued the demolition process despite protests. NAPM salutes the resistance of many of the residents who have been struggling against these arbitrary evictions, including those who stayed neck-deep inside the sewage-laden water, without any food or water.

Evictions at Thangavel Street:

In a more recent development, on 28th December, 2020 the Chennai Corporation authorities along with the police visited Thangavel Street, T Nagar and threatened the 77 families living there with eviction.  After hours of protesting, the people requested time till the end of January 2021 to move. Indifferent to their plight, the authorities proceeded to demolish the houses of 21 families and now are continuing with their coercion by depriving the people off necessities like electricity.

The 77 Dalit families have been residents of this area for over 50 years. Despite an order passed by the Government of Tamil Nadu that Housing Pattas can be issued for families that have been residing on Government Poramboke land for a period of 5 years, these families, who have lived here for over 50 years, have not received any Patta.

Some major concerns due to the arbitrary evictions are: 

  • Impact on livelihood:
  • Many of the residents are workers in the unorganised sector, daily-wage labourers, domestic workers, etc who have already suffered immensely due to the pandemic and the lock-down. Such forced evictions during a pandemic have only worsened the adverse impacts on their lives and their livelihood. 
  • The residents worry that even if ‘relocated’, the move might drastically affect access to their daily work, if the relocation is outside city limits. Such a move will also affect their children who attend schools in the neighbourhood. (Jayarajan, Dec 2019). It may be noted that this is not mere apprehension, but based on multiple past experiences of shoddy ‘rehabilitation’ of thousands of other evictees who were literally thrown out of the city, miles away from their work sites. 
  • The main demand of the residents, therefore, is that they need housing within the city limits as most of them are labourers, auto drivers or from other informal sectors. (Omjasvin, Dec 2020) 
  • Uncertainty in relocation and rehabilitation:
  • As of November 2020 (Viswanathan, Nov, 2020), only1,750 families were relocated from SM Nagar to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board tenements in Perumbakkam. However, the remaining 350 families are living a life of uncertainty. 
  • The families currently living in SM Nagar live amid debris. Newspaper reports note that children in the area study and play amid the debris of houses. 
  • Many of these families are now cut off from basic facilities like electricity and water supply. (Viswanathan, Nov, 2020).

Saga of Evictions camouflaged as ‘development’: 

It is commonplace knowledge that eviction of people living slums like SM Nagar or Thangavelu Street are not isolated incidents, but part of the systemic apathy, furthered by neo-liberal notions and actions of ‘development’ championed by the Central government and several state governments. Reportedly, under the new ‘eco-restoration’ initiatives, close to 60,000 families have been earmarked for eviction from the banks of Chennai’s rivers, according to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB), The families are considered to be living in “objectionable locations,” which means in low-lying, flood-prone areas. Many have already been relocated. 


This anti working-class development model continues to cause the suffering of millions who are displaced in the name of development and renders this suffering invisible. Any restoration or development project must include community participation. In 2019, the Delhi High Court (Ajay Maken v. Union of India) observed Right To The City as an “extension and an elaboration of the core elements of the right to shelter”. A right to the city, as examined by activists and scholars, is a right of all the residents of a city to “an equal share of the benefits offered by the city as well as the right to participate equally in the planning and creation of the city”.  

Thus, any such project that excludes the local communities from participation breaches this right. Further, any such project that requires the forced eviction of persons without adequate and better-off rehabilitation measures is but a mere beautification exercise aimed at making life easier for the city’s dominant sections. ‘Development’ or ‘ecological conservation’ cannot be sans fairness and equilibrium, impoverishing the working people, even further.  That these “few” are often the most marginalized, stigmatized persons in the region reflects the iniquitous ideas of growth plaguing the nation and begs greater attention.


The right to shelter is an internationally recognised right. On multiple occasions, Courts have acknowledged the right to shelter as an important component of the right to life as enshrined under Article 21 of our Constitution (as early as from Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation, (1985) 3 SCC 545). Numerous international covenants that India is a signatory to, also provide guarantees against forced evictions. Despite this, persons (often the most marginalized and stigmatized) are rendered shelterless by the state without any concern for their life, dignity, and access to the minimum basics of “food, shelter, and housing”. 

A statement released by the Housing and Land Rights Network (HRLN) on 19th November, 2020 notes that over 54,000 people have been affected by eighty-three forced evictions and demolition incidents by Central and State governments across India between 15th March and 31st October 2020 alone. This, at a time when the nation was reeling under the combined effect of pandemic, lockdown and unprecedented economic distress. 

In numerous cases, the affected persons were not provided prior notice or resettlement. They have been rendered homeless and face heightened exposure to the coronavirus as well as the cold weather and air pollution, which compounds their health risks. Reasons for the documented evictions include construction and infrastructure projects, government and forest land clearance, ‘beautification’ projects, and implementation of court orders. Regardless of the rationale provided, evictions cannot be justified during this severe pandemic.

It is indeed a monumental institutional crime that despite the acute public health and economic crisis, human rights violations continue to be perpetuated by the State by way of forced evictions and displacement, landlessness, homelessness, agrarian distress, gender-based violence, attacks on civil liberties, and persecution of human rights defenders. 


National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) condemns the current and previous rounds of forced evictions in Sathyavani Muthu Nagar, Chennai and Thangavel Street, in violation of due process, without providing adequate accommodation and livelihood guarantees to the people, most of who are Dalits.

  • We stand with the aggrieved families who have been braving the brutal show of force by the Corporation authorities and the Police, including deprivation of necessities like electricity.
  • We call upon the Govt. of Tamil Nadu and concerned authorities in Chennai to uphold the right to life, livelihoods and housing of the urban working class in the state. 
  • We call upon the Govt of India to immediately announce and enforce a nationwide moratorium on all forms of evictions, at least until June 2021 
  • We demand that no forcible evictions be carried out by the Govt. and the right to dignified housing, with all civic amenities be ensured immediately.

Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM); Dr. Sunilam, Adv. Aradhna Bhargava, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti; Rajkumar Sinha, Chutka Parmaanu Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, NAPM, Madhya Pradesh; 

Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Shankar Singh, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), National Campaign for People’s Right to Information; Kavita Srivastava, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL); Kailash Meena NAPM Rajasthan; 

Prafulla Samantara, Lok Shakti Abhiyan; Lingraj Azad, Samajwadi Jan Parishad & Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, Manorama, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti; Lingaraj Pradhan, Satya Banchor, Anant, Kalyan Anand, Arun Jena, Trilochan Punji, Lakshimipriya Mohanty and Balakrishna Sand, Manas Patnaik, NAPM Odisha;

Sandeep Pandey (Socialist Party of India); Richa Singh & Rambeti (Sangatin Kisaan Mazdoor Sangathan, Sitapur); Rajeev Yadav & Masihuddin bhai (Rihai Manch, Lucknow & Azamgadh); Arundhati Dhuru & Zainab Khatun (Mahila Yuva Adhikar Manch, Lucknow), Suresh Rathaur (MNREGA Mazdoor Union, Varanasi); Arvind Murti & Altamas Ansari (Inquilabi Kamgaar Union, Mau), Jagriti Rahi (Vision Sansthan, Varanasi); Satish Singh (Sarvodayi Vikas Samiti, Varanasi); Nakul Singh Sawney (Chal Chitra Abhiyan, Muzaffarnagar); NAPM Uttar Pradesh

P. Chennaiah, Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthidarula Union-APVVU, Ramakrishnam Raju, United Forum for RTI and NAPM, Chakri (Samalochana), Balu Gadi, Bapji Juvvala, NAPM Andhra Pradesh;

Jeevan Kumar & Syed Bilal (Human Rights Forum), P. Shankar (Dalit Bahujan Front), Vissa Kiran Kumar & Kondal (Rythu Swarajya Vedika), Ravi Kanneganti (Rythu JAC), Ashalatha (MAKAAM), Krishna (Telangana Vidyavantula Vedika-TVV), M. Venkatayya (Telangana Vyavasaya Vruttidarula Union-TVVU), Meera Sanghamitra, NAPM Telangana;

Sister Celia, Domestic Workers Union; Maj Gen (Retd) S.G.Vombatkere, NAPM, Nalini Gowda, KRRS, Nawaz, Dwiji Guru, Nalini, Madhu Bhushan and Mamatha Yajaman, Susheela, Shashank, NAPM Karnataka

Gabriele Dietrich, Penn Urimay Iyakkam, Madurai; Geetha Ramakrishnan, Unorganised Sector Workers Federation;  Suthanthiran, Lenin, Inamul Hasan, Arul Doss, Barathi and Vikash NAPM Tamilnadu; 

Vilayodi Venugopal, CR Neelakandan, Prof. Kusumam Joseph, Sharath Cheloor, Vijayaraghavan Cheliya, Majeendran, Magline, NAPM, Kerala; 

Dayamani Barla, Aadivasi-Moolnivasi Astivtva Raksha Samiti; Basant Hetamsaria, Aloka Kujur, Dr. Leo A. Singh, Afzal Anish, Sushma Biruli, Durga Nayak, Jipal Murmu, Priti Ranjan Dash, Ashok Verma, NAPM Jharkhand;

Anand Mazgaonkar, Swati Desai, Krishnakant, Parth, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti; Nita Mahadev, Mudita, Lok Samiti; Dev Desai, Mujahid Nafees, Ramesh Tadvi, Aziz Minat and Bharat Jambucha, NAPM Gujarat;

Vimal Bhai, Matu Jan sangathan; Jabar Singh, Uma, NAPM, Uttarakhand; 

Manshi Asher and Himshi Singh, Himdhara, NAPM Himachal Pradesh  

Eric Pinto, Abhijeet, Tania Devaiah, Caroline and Francesca, NAPM Goa

Gautam Bandopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha; Kaladas Dahariya, RELAA, Alok Shukla, Shalini Gera, NAPM Chhattisgarh; 

Samar Bagchi, Amitava Mitra, Binayak Sen, Sujato Bhadro, Pradip Chatterjee, Pasarul Alam, Amitava Mitra, Tapas Das, Tahomina Mandal, Pabitra Mandal, Kazi Md. Sherif, Biswajit Basak, Ayesha Khatun, Rupak Mukherjee, Milan Das, Asit Roy, Mita Bhatta, Yasin, Matiur Rahman, Baiwajit Basa, NAPM West Bengal; 

Suniti SR, Sanjay M G, Suhas Kolhekar, Prasad Bagwe, Mukta Srivastava, Yuvraj Gatkal, Geetanjali Chavan, Bilal Khan, Jameela, Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan; Chetan Salve, Narmada Bachao Andolan, Pervin Jehangir, NAPM Maharashtra;

J S Walia, NAPM Haryana;  Guruwant Singh, Narbinder Singh, NAPM Punjab; 

Kamayani Swami, Ashish Ranjan, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan; Mahendra Yadav, Kosi Navnirman Manch;  NAPM Bihar; 

Rajendra Ravi, NAPM; Bhupender Singh Rawat, Jan Sangharsh Vahini; Anjali Bharadwaj and Amrita Johri, Satark Nagrik Sangathan;  Sanjeev Kumar, Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch; Anita Kapoor, Delhi Shahri Mahila Kaamgaar Union; Sunita Rani, National Domestic Workers Union; Nanhu Prasad, National Cyclist Union; Madhuresh Kumar, Priya Pillai, Aryaman Jain, Divyansh Khurana, Evita Das; Anil TV, Delhi Solidarity Group, MJ Vijayan (PIPFPD)          

Sources: 

Nirupama Viswanathan, 350 families reside amid debris of 1,000 houses in Chennai’s Sathyavani Muthu Nagar, The New Indian Express, 16 November 2020, available at: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2020/nov/16/350-families-reside-amid-debris-of1000-houses-in-chennaissathyavani-muthu-nagar-2223978.html


Omjasvin, MD, Chennai slum dwellers stand neck-deep inside sewage-laden Cooum for hours protesting eviction, The New Indian Express, 9 December 2020, available at: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2020/dec/09/chennai-slum-dwellers-stand-neck-deep-inside-sewage-laden-cooum-for-hours-protesting-eviction-2233992.html

Sreedevi Jayarajan, ‘Will affect livelihood, education’: Hundreds of families along Chennai’s Cooum evicted, The Newsminute, available at: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/will-affect-livelihood-education-hundreds-families-along-chennai-s-cooum-evicted-114998

HRLN, How to respond to forced evictions: a handbook for India, March 2014, available at https://www.hlrn.org.in/documents/Handbook_on_Forced_Evictions.pdf

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NAPM India