The headlines of The Hindu newspaper 1/11/11 shows that Chennai metropolitan development authorities (CMDA) have taken the initiative to lock down illegal and unauthorized establishments in T.nagar following a court order to demolish unauthorized buildings 2 months ago. Such an extreme decision was invoked owing to the 12 year battle between the traders and government officials regarding the issue. It started off with a regularization of illegal commercial establishments for a fee which the shop owners challenged in the court. What the shop owners claim is also impractical; they request the court to condone all illegal establishments in the T. nagar area and declare the region as a special retail economic zone.
To me T. nagar is the least preferred place to travel to be it for shopping or just driving through because of the traffic congestion in the region which is perennial, this is a step which will be lauded by residents and users of the T. nagar roads as we can see slightly more free flowing traffic thanks to these developments which according to the papers will encourage bringing more shops into the scanner.
On page 2, however there was an article about the plight of the employees in these textile and jewelry firms who are hoping that they will get their end of the month salaries today being the first of the next month but the shop owners claim that they are unable to do so until the shops are opened. The people working at these firms are helpless as most of them soul bread winners of their families, need the salaries to send home money. They are desperately cling on to their jobs to feed their families. The employers I believe will smartly play their cards not paying their workers unless this issue is sorted out and this will entail employees supporting their cause.
All these issues really seem to surface only due to the fact that not much of the developments in the city are monitored. The monitoring which has started is a little too late as there was found to be too many defaulters a case such as this one where many more commercial establishments are likely to fall under the unauthorized category. They in turn will penalize their workforce until a compromise is reached and the fragile microeconomics present in running their families will be affected.
The authorities will have to deal with the encroachment issue with these issues also in mind because if the process of demolishing illegal constructions get delayed then it is going to in turn affect the government themselves as they would have to address the issues of the families of the affected employees following this.
What can really be done is that employment regulations should be brought about from the state government level itself and also educate the people working under such firms about how they will benefit from such a scheme and how to exercise their rights. These laws would enforce textile and jewelry firms to treat its employees with a little more respect for it is they who run the shop. Also such an intiative from the government would not put them in this situation where they not only have to regulate the city buildings but also keep in mind the fragile familial situation.
Now lets see how the proceedings go. I see it as a huge challenge for the CMDA officials but I also see them learning from it thereby they show more insight the next time such radical decisions are to be made.
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