Unending eviction and Resistance

Yasodha and her comrades fight forced evictions in Chennai’s

Govindasamy Nagar

16 July 2022

Athira Elssa Johnson 

Sreenivasan and family-File photo

“En veettukaran yeranth oru masam tha akuth appadiyum njann ulle irikathe ithukaga oadittirikan”—it’s only been a month since my partner’s demise and yet I am not staying home but running for these things — Yasodha, a resident of Illango street, R A Puram of Chennai’s Govindsamy Nagar Chennai, told me. It is the locality where the ongoing forced eviction in the guise of removal of encroachment is happening.

A 58-year-old man from Illango Street, G Kannaiyan, had set himself on fire amidst the protests in May 2022. “Ava yeranthiriutha iva ippadi veedu edukaatthen neneche”— he thought they would stop taking down our houses if he gives his life protesting to save his locality from being demolished— Janaki, Yasodha’s mother who has been living in the area for the past sixty years, added. It is not easy to spot Illango Street at Govindasamy Nagar.

The debris, half-demolished houses, and police guards are the only sights.

Yasodha

Yasodha is also the head of “Madhar Sangam” -a collective of women of the locality, her people and their dissenting voices have brought changes in the place. “At Besant Nagar though we couldn’t stop them from demolishing the houses, we still held firm on our demands to have people of the locality be relocated together,” Yasodha recounted. “This means 750 of them had to be together in a nearby locality, and the officials had to do it. We stood together, but this time they scattered us all.” The legal battle by the residents cost the residents their money, energy, employment, and life.

The backdrop of this battle started with businessman Rajiv Rai’s writ petition in the Madras High Court in 2006 demanding the eviction of the residents of Govindasamy Nagar- labeling them as encroachers, allegedly to create a better access road to his property, and the Public Interest Litigation in 2008 seeking complete removal of the houses.

The petition was challenged by the residents of Govindasamy Nagar in the Supreme Court. The SC ruled in favour of the petitioner in 2011. After listing houses to demolish, the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board removed 366 houses in the area. The case was again made to the SC which directed the removal of the houses, setting off the eviction proceedings that took place at the end of April 2022. The top court dismissed an appeal by the residents to halt the evictions.

 

Police have camped right at the start of illongo street.There are very few people residing in half-demolished homes. the debris-covered in protest slogans and posters, there's still signs of protests.

 

Yasodha articulated her pain citing the facts from her lived experience. She told me that media persons come and talk to them all the time, and take videos and pictures but won’t show those in the media.

They often only show the demolishing videos and the court order. “See I have a sore throat, I have been talking, I can’t stop talking about this, and I am scared of none,” she said. Yasodha lives near the Kovil-temple at the near end of Illango Street, it is just Jamuna’s and Yasodhas’s homes along with the half and fully-demolished homes that’s left of the Illongo street.

“Romba bhayam pudithitanga, makkal bayanth token vangitten,” —they scared us all, people fear more losses so they are taking the tokens for new homes— Yasodha said.``I resist this , I do not need a new home, this is the place I know,  I am forty-eight now, I came here when I was a year old and why would I give away my home to someone who decides to destroy our homes sitting in an office.”

She added that she was a communist, a social service worker, and her family had always supported and voted for the Communist party. But now, she said, “ I feel  humiliated, pondering on if I should punch  NOTA next time.”

Krishnaveni, who works in a house adjacent to Govindasamy Nagar where the elite line of people lives, told me that there is a lot of rage and grief on the street. “We know the evictions will take down everything and this is a series of happenings,” she said. She used to live in Illongo Street and now her house is already demolished. She had been part of the resistance but was forced to move into the new place, initially allotted in Abhimapuram and then later they allotted 150 houses in places like Padappi, Navallur ,Kanjupuram where she was forced to shift the entirety of their lives . Krishnaveni now stays in Radhakrishnapuram .  “Jobs, education, my ancestral roots, and my home are ruined,” she told me.

Jamuna

Sreenivasan

Janaki

 

The residents of Illongo resisted and tried to stop the demolition. The allotment isn’t with our consent. “bhayam pudduithu ellarem ange inge aakitta,” — they scattered our fight with force and threats—Janaki added. Her husband Sreenivasan and neighbours also went on talking about how it’s been difficult to cope with all of this. “We can’t cook, eat or function, we mostly cry in the night and forget to sleep,” she told me.

Yasodha and her comrades- Sreenivasann, Janaki, Saroja, Jamuna, and Vijayan narrated how the process of demolishing began. “Because the upper privileged class people want a hike in the price of their land and maybe think it’s a shame to see our street from their luxury flats, they want to take down the very trace of our land so that they can make our land look like theirs,” they said.

The MLA of the region-DhaVelu had said to residents that if people keep resisting to take tokens, their houses will be taken down as well as they will lose provision for a new home. Therefore, Jamuna and Yasodha had to take the tokens. “We do not want to go for the allotments, we do not want to see the so-called new home that they are relocating us into,” they said. “We simply want to move on with our lives in the place we like which has already been destroyed into nothing.”

Chennai’s walls have been beautified to portray inclusivity and equality, the colours showcase beauty and the themes convey the message of oneness—residents of Illongo street said “The leaders visiting us, Chennai’s walls been beautified and water conservation are all a big sham, all of this is one big mask because beneath the walls we are suffering,” they added.

Yashoda has concerns as she was forced to take the token on 18 July 2022 evening and her house stands amidst the debris of Illongo Street. She worries about her son who should be enrolling in college this year and her daughter’s future.

She keeps stating the depth of injustice they had to face as a community and the fact that their fellow resident’s tragic death, her people’s hunger strike and other innumerable protests being shunned, leaves her disappointed in the system.

Sridhar- who just visited his mother-in-law at Illongo Street where the demolishing is happening was talking to a friend on call while the women were actively discussing about what was next in the protest.

He recalled how they have restrictions to putting cut-outs, posters, and resistance symbols.  “Why are journalists late to talk to us, it’s all in crumbles now, there’s very little left in Illongo theriv now.  In Kattambomma theriv and Karikalam theriv people are also living in fear of losing their homes, it’s disappointing.”

Residents fear that they would be shifted to faraway places in rentals with huge maintenance costs. “A maintenance cost of 1500 is charged every month for a new house and they expect us to pay from what little we make from housework,” Yasodha added.

Vijayan- from Kerala had been a resident of Illongo Street for the past 25 years. Vijayan used to run a small tea stall and now a hotel. He expanded his house with his earnings and now fears eviction.

“ I worked hard, they pushed us to start over again, ” he said. Vijayan further said posters and cutouts are only allowed inside the street, and nobody hears about our resistance. Some of the already demolished homes themselves haven’t been allotted new houses and they want to further demolish the rest too by the 30^th  of July 2022.

Valli from the nearest therivu - who walks long distances for housework in the neighborhood - fears that her life will be further pushed into the margins. Valli said “ I am scared as they can evict me anytime considering what happened in neighboring streets, this is not far”

 

Yasodha and her comrades are confident that there will be a bunch of fifty to hundred people on their call always to gather and organise forms of resistance, she also says “I cannot put people’s lives in danger, people come when we call, but they are also scared, it’s a forced eviction, our fears are valid”

Yasodha and her comrades are taking their concerns to the slum board in writing again, gathering all their signatures. She reminds them to bring in political attention that can whelm the system understand their concerns.

She also fears another abrupt demolition. Even when she offered me to visit her home anytime, she also added, “Most probably we won't be here when you visit next time.”

 

A look at the initial pitch and reporting plan: 

Pitch

I would like to pitch about the slum eviction proceedings in Chennai . There are beautification programmes particularly wall paintings and graffiti under the banner of  the " betterment" of people happening in Chennai , On the other side is the brutal slum eviction programmes . I would brief on the slum eviction  particularly at RA Puram/Govindasamy Nagar . Starting in May 2022 the eviction has made life interrupting hurdles for people who lived there. Many protests and resistance happened and the people of the area are still fighting against the system for their rights. I would like to write about how people of Govindasamy Nagar resisted though the system forced them to succumb. One of the residents faced a tragic death by setting himself on fire in fear of losing his home. There are not many leaders or any support system for the people there and I would cover the same.

* Reporting plan

I would visit Govindsamy Nagar ,RA puram and see to talk to the people who haven't yet relocated or is not willing to go. I would talk to the community leaders and find more details about the protest movements there . I would interview people who are willing to talk about their life now at Govindasamy Nagar . 

* I would find answers for the following questions: 

The current state of people's life  

The follow up after one of the resident's death caused by the eviction , what happened to the family 

What happened to the people who are  relocated in the new place 

About their employments and careers

What next if the eviction continues about the people who are still staying back 

What more plans of protests and resistance and an account of the resistance movements so far.

I would focus on life stories and document one life story in depth after talking to them.