Slums in Chennai
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chennai is the capital city of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the fourth largest metropolitan city in the country. A total of 30% of Chennai's population resided in slums as of 2011. The state government of Tamil Nadu has established a slum clearance Board, with a minister heading it. Out of the major cities with the highest population in slums, Chennai ranks fourth after Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkota. Rapid urbanization and employment in the unorganized sector is the major factor for the slum population in Chennai.
The Tamil Nadu Slum Areas (Improvement & Clearance) Act of 1971 empowered the government to protect the rights of slum dwellers from eviction or relocation. The policy helped in creating the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB), which comes under the Department of Housing of the state government of Tamil Nadu. The slum development works of the government are managed by TNSCB and also externally funded by agencies like World Bank.