The non-governmental organisations Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC) and the International Accountability Project (IAP) have demanded effective intervention from the World Bank (WB) and the Tamil Nadu (T.N.) government in addressing long-pending issues in some of the WB-funded housing projects for the urban poor implemented in the State.
A report jointly released by these organisations here on Friday highlighted the issues faced by the families covered under these projects, in which the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board was the implementing agency in the State. Majority of the issues dealt with the Madras Urban Development Project (MUDP) implemented in two phases and the Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project (TNUDP).
The report highlighted that despite delays of more than 2.5 decades since the completion of these projects, majority of the families covered under the projects were yet to receive freehold titles for the land plots they were allocated and many of them still faced threats of evictions. It pointed out that a group of families settled under the MUDP near the Cooum river in Chennai were recently evicted even though the site was earlier allocated to them by the government.
Though these are “closed” projects for World Bank, the two organisations said that it was necessary for the bank to intervene considering the unresolved issues and continuing impacts on the affected families. Pointing out that the World Bank continued to fund projects related to housing for the poor in Tamil Nadu, the organisations appealed to the bank to propose remedial measures to address these unresolved issues through the ongoing projects like the Tamil Nadu Housing and Habitat Development Project (TNHHP).
According to the report, one of the key hurdles in transferring land rights to the families was the delay in alienating land from the land-owing departments of the government to the TNUHDB. Despite the State government constituting an Empowered Committee a few years ago to expedite this land alienation process, the report said that land alienation was pending in as many as 148 settlements in Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Salem, affecting thousands of families.
Arguing that addressing these issues were becoming more complicated with every passing year, the organisations appealed to the Tamil Nadu government to constitute a high-level committee to monitor the progress of the WB schemes and address the issues. Highlighting numerous procedural delays faced by the families, the report urged the TNUHDB to put in place transparent processes and grievance redressal mechanisms to facilitate transfer of land rights in settlements where land alienation was complete.
