Encroachment in Gokulam Colony cleared

Chennai: Officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation removed a thatched hut that was encroaching an interior road in Gokulam Colony in West Mambalam after a report was published in Deccan Chronicle.

Relieved residents told DC that the local body officials pulled down the hut on January 28 following a period of anxiety as officials refrained from acting on a civil court ruling ordering the encroachment's removal.

The report, which appeared in DC on January 7, described how the hut had taken over nearly two-thirds of a 20-foot wide interior road, and was causing hardships to residents nearby. The dwellers of the hut had also been involved in a lengthy court battle with Gokulam Colony residents for over 25 years.

However, residents added that even after the Corporation authorities took down the hut, the illegal settler was refusing to leave the premises as he had spread out the contents of his house on the road. "We complained to the police but whenever the patrol team made a trip, the person would go missing. He would come back once the patrol team left," said a resident.

The presence of the hut had prevented motorists from taking a clear turn into Balakrishna Mudali street from Gokulam Colony. Heavy vehicles, including the Corporation's garbage compactors, could not enter the residential locality nearby leaving residents fuming as even waste could not be cleared regularly.

In October 2015, a civil court directed the authorities to remove the hut after it was proved without doubt that the encroacher had created a fake address to claim legitimacy for the settlement.