Erode house demolition proceedings were halted after more than 150 residents gathered near Chinnappa Nagar and opposed the removal of four homes allegedly built on an encroached waterway connected to Murali Lake, according to a report by Dinamalar.
The dispute is centred on a water channel that carries excess water from Murali Lake, near Sithagoundanur, to the Sani Santhai Kaliamman Temple area in Anthiyur taluk. The channel is alleged to have been encroached upon at multiple points. The report said 12 farmers and four houses in Chinnappa Nagar were among the properties alleged to have occupied parts of the watercourse.
The issue has continued for more than three months. Revenue and Water Resources Department officials from Anthiyur reportedly conducted land measurements twice during this period. Residents subsequently complained that the departmental process had favoured Sureshkumar, Superintendent of Police at the Chennai Police Academy and an owner of land in the area. The report did not provide the official response of the departments or Sureshkumar to that allegation.
Following the complaints, Erode District Collector Kandasamy ordered the formation of a six-member committee to address the dispute. The committee was tasked with examining the issue after concerns were raised over the manner in which the land and watercourse boundaries had been assessed.
Officials from the Public Works Department and the Revenue Department arrived at Chinnappa Nagar to remove four houses described as encroachments, the report said. Residents gathered at the site after learning of the proposed action and opposed the demolition. They demanded that all portions allegedly encroaching on the channel from the lower outlet of Murali Lake be measured fairly before any structures were removed.
The protest shifted the immediate focus from demolition to the accuracy and scope of the survey. Residents were reported to have argued that action should not be limited to the four houses identified for removal, but should cover every alleged encroachment along the watercourse. Government officials eventually left the site without carrying out the demolition.
The dispute highlights the administrative difficulty of acting on alleged encroachments where a drainage or irrigation channel passes through privately occupied land. In this case, the residents’ demand is for a comprehensive measurement of the waterway and the properties alongside it, while the authorities had arrived to act against four specific houses. The report does not state whether the six-member committee has completed its assessment or whether a fresh survey date has been announced.
The next step will depend on the committee’s findings and the district administration’s decision on how the watercourse boundaries are to be recorded and whether further action will be taken against the properties identified in the survey.
