Ambedkar Nagar used to belong to a Pakistani national, and as a result, the residents claim, they have lived without any basic amenities for decades.
Published May 25, 2025 | 12:17 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 11, 2025 | 9:17 AM
Residents of Ambedkar Nagar in Chennai. (Subash Chandra Bose/South First.)
Synopsis: Residents of Chennai’s Ambedkar Nagar are facing eviction since the land is classified as enemy land. While residents, who have been living there for generations, say they are ready to pay a fair price for the land, the government is asking for market rates.
Perambur in Chennai is home to the historic railway workshop, old binny mills, and a significant Anglo-Indian population. Now, a locality in the area — Sembium’s Ambedkar Nagar — has become the centre of a major controversy as the land is classified as enemy property.
In December 2024, the Taluk office issued a notice and directed the residents of Ambedkar Nagar to vacate the premises within 15 days.
“I’m 39 years old. I was born and raised here. My parents lived here too. Suddenly, a notice was pasted telling us to vacate. But we have filed a case. We even went to the office in Mumbai and spoke with the officials there,” S Sarala, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar, told South First.
Reportedly, Ambedkar Nagar used to belong to a Pakistani national, and as a result, the residents claim, they have lived without any basic amenities for decades. It is classified as enemy property under the Enemy Property Act of 1968.
Any property left unclaimed by individuals who moved to countries like Pakistan or China is classified as enemy property and comes under the control of the Custodian of Enemy Property, an authority under the Indian government.
Recently, the Custodian of Enemy Property for India asked residents of Ambedkar Nagar to vacate the land immediately. In light of these developments, South First visited the area to report on the ground reality.
The tar road ends at the beginning of Ambedkar Nagar. (Subash Chandra Bose/ South First)
Right next to Ambedkar Nagar is a private school. Residents claim that the land for the school is also classified as enemy property. However, the school management is said to have officially acquired it from the Union government and constructed its building.
While well-paved tar roads lead up to the school gate, those roads abruptly end at the entrance to Ambedkar Nagar. From the point where the board marking “Ambedkar Nagar” begins, broken, uneven roads take over.
The locality consists mostly of huts, with a few concrete houses scattered in between. Over 500 families have been living there for more than 30 years — without proper roads, drinking water, or electricity.
Most residents belong to Scheduled Caste (SC) communities.
Spanning just three acres and 37 cents, this area has been home to three generations, all of whom have lived without access to basic infrastructure. Although Ambedkar Nagar is located in Perambur, it actually falls under the Kolathur Assembly constituency.
Since the land has been classified as enemy property, the local administration is not permitted to carry out any development work on it.
Ambedkar Nagar is locally known as Sembium. The entire land is registered under the name of one Naseer Hussain. In the early 1990s, the Hussain family ran a leather business there named Nesharson Leather Factory.
Workers employed at the factory built small huts on the surrounding land and began living there. Eventually, their descendants continued to reside there as well. According to locals, the owner migrated to Pakistan in 1995.
As a result, not only did the factory shut down, but the land has remained unclaimed for many years.
The poor condition of Ambedkar Nagar roads. (Subash Chandra Bose/ South First)
The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2017 and subsequent Enemy Property (Amendment) Rules, 2018, clarified that even the legal heirs of those who migrated to Pakistan or China during or after Partition would have no right to claim these properties.
Enemy properties refer to assets left behind by those who took citizenship in Pakistan or China. According to a ministry official, there are over 11,000 enemy properties in India — with 66 of them located in Tamil Nadu.
These properties are now legally vested with the Custodian of Enemy Property for India, who has the authority to rent or sell them.
S Malliga, who has been living in Ambedkar Nagar for three generations, told South First in tears, “At the very end of my life, they’re asking me to vacate. Where will I go now? If they must, let them bury me and then take over my house.”
“My father worked in the Nesharson leather factory, applying lime to the hides. My mother worked on processing snakeskin. There was no housing provided outside, so we asked the factory owner and built a hut here to live in. All the factory’s waste used to get dumped here — even so, we lived here,” she said.
“I’ve grown old here. I’ve worked as a domestic worker, saved little by little, and built the small house that I have. And now, suddenly, they’re asking me to leave — where will I go?” she asked in despair.
C Arumugam, another long-time resident, said he has been living there for over 30 years.
“We have lived here since my parents’ time — they’ve passed away now, but even today we have no proper roads, no drinking water, and no electricity,” he said with pain in his voice.
“Every time we need water to drink or bathe, we have to cycle long distances and fetch water from a public tap. The government hasn’t even laid a single pipe to bring water here,” he added.
K Sanjana, a trans woman who has also been living there for several years, said that her family had been residing in the area since her father’s time. “Even though we have voter ID cards, Aadhaar cards, and every other form of government-issued identification, we still haven’t been provided with basic facilities like roads or electricity,” she said emphatically.
C Arumugam has been living in Ambedkar Nagar for over 30 years. (Subash Chandra Bose/South First)
Continuing the conversation, Arumugam pointed out that politicians visit there during elections and secure 6,000 to 7,000 votes from the area, but never return to address the residents’ problems once the elections are over.
P Chandrasekhar, another resident, shared, “When I came here, the land was so low-lying that it reached my chest. The nearby land was all dense forest. At night, snakes from there would slither near us. It was completely unfit for human habitation, but we were the ones who improved it and made it liveable.”
What stood out was Chandrasekhar’s claim that they had knocked on every door — from local officials like the Tahsildar and District Collector to the highest offices, including the chief minister and the prime minister.
“Once, we met former chief minister M Karunanidhi and submitted a petition. At that time, J Jayalalithaa was the chief minister, and he assured us that if his party came to power, he would resolve our issue. Back then, Ranganathan was the MLA for Kolathur constituency. But after the DMK returned to power, he was shifted to Villivakkam. Because of that, our petition was pushed aside,” he said.
He also said they had taken their plea all the way to Delhi, meeting former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, and several others — but even after all that, their situation remains unchanged.
As the custodian of enemy property issued eviction notices, a group of residents filed a petition in the Madras High Court in January 2025, seeking a stay on the eviction.
The court dismissed the case, stating that since the land is classified as “enemy property”, it cannot be legally contested.
Dileep Kumar, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar, is currently leading the legal battle. (Subash Chandra Bose/South First)
“Until December 2024, we had no idea about this. When we received notices stating that the land is Custodian Property and that we must vacate, we immediately approached the court. However, the case was dismissed. Later, we found out that the custodian’s office is in Mumbai. Six of us, along with a lawyer, went there to meet the officials and explained our situation,” V Dileep Kumar, who leads the residents’ legal efforts, told South First.
According to Dileep Kumar and another resident, Sarala, officials from the Custodian of Enemy Property for India informed them that the government intended to sell the land, and the people living there must vacate it.
Sarala recalled telling the officials, “Instead of selling it to someone else, we’re willing to buy the land ourselves at a reduced price.”
Sarala was born and brought up in Ambedkar Nagar. (Subash Chandra Bose/South First)
However, the officials reportedly stated that the land could only be sold at the government-determined market rate — around ₹2,700 per square foot.
“We cannot afford that,” said Sarala. “We are daily wage workers. That’s why we have submitted a petition requesting a concession on the price.”
Continuing, Dileep Kumar explained, “We’ve been living here for over 50 years. Young people from second-generation families like ours have worked hard, gotten educated, and built pucca houses here. Before that, these were all just huts. Even now, there are many huts in this area. If they suddenly ask us to leave, we will have no livelihood. We already live in the heart of a metro city like Chennai without even the most basic facilities. If they throw us out now, we’ll end up on the streets.”
Over 500 families live in this locality. They have expressed a willingness to buy the land at a fair and subsidised price; failing that, they say they have no other means to survive.
According to Dileep Kumar, a team from the Custodian of Enemy Property for India is scheduled to visit the area on 27 May to conduct a fresh land survey. “We will get to know the final decision only after that,” he said.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
