9,250 encroachments remain untouched by TNSCB officials

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) should pull its socks up if it were serious in executing newer housing projects. The board has been found wanting even in protecting its own property, not just anywhere, but Chennai and Coimbatore districts, which account for prime realty in the state.

Over 9,250 encroachments remain untouched by TNSCB officials since May 2011. The statistics is contained in the CAG report. The CAG picked holes in the manner in which the officials managed the board's property.

In his report of the general and social sectors  for the previous fiscal, the CAG rapped the board officers and said, “Initiatives taken by TNSCB in June 2011 to evict encroachers did not yield desired results as the progress of eviction was very slow.”

The report, tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday, said TNSCB officials had only managed to remove 184 encroachments in three schemes from May 2011 to June 2014, leaving 9,257 encroachments covering 64 tenemental schemes under illegal occupation.

Apart from individuals, the auditors had identified religious structures,   shops and bunks to be the major encroachers on government lands meant for providing shelter to the poor.