Kannapar Thidal to boycott Lok Sabha elections as housing promise unfullfiled

Chennai homeless families threaten election boycott due to broken promises of housing, living in overcrowded, dilapidated conditions.

Residents of Kannapar Thidal, a shelter for the homeless, with over 180 families in Chennai Central constituency have threatened to boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“We were promised housing at various points by politicians but nothing has materialised. Even a corpse is given at least six feet in depth to rest, we are being denied the right to a house, a place to sleep where our legs are outstretched,” said D. Selvam, 56-year-old resident.

In 2001, about 61 families living on the pavements in Egmore were moved to a building one-km away from the Ripon Building. “Now we have grown to over three generations within the community, all of us living under the same roof in a 4x4 ft room,” said Amudhavalli.

Pictures of Actor Vijay, Mr. Stalin and former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran adorn the walls of the building in each space. “Not a single MLA or MP has visited us here until two years ago. At this rate, life on the streets was much better,” said Varalakshmi, who moved along with her young family of five two decades ago which has now grown by six more members.

“This shelter at that time was used by load men. Chennai Corporation put all of us in there and now, after over 20 years, the building is in a bad state where if it rains, not only does it flood but the roof also leaks ensuring that the first and second floor is also flooded,” he added.

Every room in the building is partitioned with wooden structures giving a family of at least two members a small space to exist. A room could have anywhere between three-nine families living in it. A space under the staircase has also been converted into a room, which was marked as a room by the Tamil Nadu Habitat Development Board.

In 2023, the Minister of Urban Habitat Development Board T.M. Anbarasan in a reply to DMK MLA I. Paranthaman had stated that more houses will be constructed on 1.83 acres in Kannappar Thidal by including the land owned by the Greater Chennai Corporation.