Tamil Nadu

Where old grandeur fills air and cup of woes overflows

TAMBARAM: A drive through the sprawling Cantonment areas in the southern suburbs is sure to transport the visitor to an era gone by. Spacious bungalows built during the days of the British rule, each with gardens and lush green lawns and well-laid roads near military establishments are some features that are scarcely seen elsewhere in Chennai.

But beyond the grandeur of the buildings and greenery, there are several problems faced by residents of St.Thomas Mount Cum Pallavaram Cantonment Board. The second oldest of all Cantonment Boards in India, it was established in 1774. It was formed essentially to cater to the requirements of the military that was defending itself against assaults from Puducherry and Mysore, sources said.

Today, the Cantonment Board is spread over 3,550 acres in St. Thomas Mount, Nandambakkam, Meenambakkam, Tirusulam and Pallavaram and supports a population of nearly 45,000. This includes about 4,000 Army personnel and their families in military establishments such as Officers Training Academy, Military Hospital and Family Quarters among others.

It gets an annual revenue of about Rs.8 crore mostly by way of taxes and assistance from the Centre.

After a gap of about six years, elections were held in May this year and 7 ward members, three from Pallavaram and four from the St. Thomas Mount areas, were elected councillors. In addition to these ward members, one among whom is selected as vice-president, the Board has representatives from the Army and Kancheepuram district administration. Brigadier P.S.Sasidharan, Station Commander, is the ex-officio President of the Board.

Coming under the control of the Ministry of Defence, the Cantonment Board does not enjoy the freedom and decision-making process of rural and other urban local bodies in the city’s suburbs. This is evident from the acute shortage of staff in nearly all departments of the Board, including schools, hospitals and marriage halls run by it in Pallavaram and St. Thomas Mount. In January this year, staff of the Board staged a demonstration, urging the State and Central governments to fill vacancies, which they said were not filled from 2002 onwards.

The staff said many of them were forced to do double shifts at a stretch in water pumping stations, collection and disposal of garbage. The shortage of sanitary staff had a severe impact as mounds of garbage could be seen in some pockets of Pallavaram and Nandambakkam.

At present, the Board disposes of garbage at a location near Bhaktavatsalam Nagar within Alandur Municipal limits. Residents and the municipality have for long been complaining about the nuisance caused around this garbage yard. But the problems that are most pressing and peculiar faced by residents of the Board are that they are deprived of many welfare schemes of the State government.

Shockingly, there is not even one Children’s Centre under the Integrated Child Development Services in the entire Board. As per Central government norms, there should be a Children’s Centre for a population of every 1,500 but in the Board, there is none.

And hence, children in the 1-5 age group, pregnant and lactating mothers are deprived of nutritious and supplementary diet.

Further, the benefits of the old age pension scheme have not been extended to senior citizens living in the Board. Enquiries with officials at the Tambaram Taluk office revealed they were yet to receive a list of people eligible to receive the monthly Rs.400, a princely sum for the elderly, considering there were plenty of them from Below the Poverty Line families here.While even village panchayats have taken initiatives to create parks, compost yards playfields and gymnasiums, there are not many of them within the Cantonment. Residents have also complained that unlike other local bodies where each and every staff could be easily accessed, it was not the case in the Board.

The Board, with a population of about 45,000, had just seven ward members while in town panchayats in Tambaram area with a similar population, the representation of councillors was higher.

A spokesperson for the Cantonment Board, while acknowledging that problems did exist, said they were continuously taking up the issues with different State government departments.

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