Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Thoraipakkam panchayat residents oppose move to construct more TNSCB tenements

Photo: Deepa H Ramakrishnan

PREPARATORY WORK: A lorry dumping soil on the site in Thoraipakkam for the construction of TNSCB tenements. —

CHENNAI: Residents of Okkiyam Thoraipakkam panchayat are opposed to the construction of 3,000 additional tenements by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) at Kannagi Nagar Housing Colony.

The TNSCB has envisaged 18,000 tenements in Kannagi Nagar. Out of the 15,000 tenements constructed in two phases, 12,000 have been occupied. Work on remaining 3,000 tenements has just begun.

Many residents said that the locality’s resources were limited and could not keep taking large numbers of people relocated by the TNSCB. Recently, a group of residents tried to block the heavy vehicles that brought sand for the construction of the 3,000 tenements. They also approached the Collector for help, but say that little has been done with regard to their demand.

With the marsh land being filled up for constructing tenements and for various other projects, rainwater stagnation is a major problem in several localities. At a joint meeting of Pettai, Thoraipakkam and Mettukuppam villages recently, residents also demanded earmarking of space for playgrounds, parks and other development works and preservation of floodplains.

Susetha Kumaradev, a former ward councillor, said, “our children do not have a place for playing whereas inside Kannagi Nagar space has been allocated for a park and a playground. We do not have a burial ground. Neither has space been earmarked for a pumping station for underground drain for which work is going on. The marsh land belonging to Thoraipakkam has been filled up and is used by the Slum Clearance Board for construction, thereby inundating several low lying areas.”

K. Ekambaram, president, Okkiyam Thoraipakkam panchayat, said the local body did not have funds or manpower to provide basic amenities to the residents of Kannagi Nagar. “We have sent several letters to the Collector and the Board asking them to stop further construction. We even passed a resolution at the recent gram sabha in this regard. Too many Slum Clearance Board tenements have created a sort of imbalance in the area.”

Some of the residents said that locals had become a minority with Kannagi Nagar’s population increasing.

With no government agency ready to hear them out, they said they had no say in what was happening in their villages.

A resident, who did not want to be named, said, “we have lost two vital groundwater recharging ponds to the widening of the IT Highway. We objected to that but no one bothered to listen. Similarly, in the case of Kannagi Nagar tenements, we have been objecting from the beginning but no one has paid heed.”

The residents of the Slum Clearance Board tenements too remain dissatisfied.

A resident of Kannagi Nagar said that their area did not have a proper approach road. “We do not have enough buses and most of the interior are yet to be laid. The garbage in our area is not cleaned… we do not have proper drinking water supply and they want to bring in more people.”

A senior Slum Clearance Board official said that steps were being taken to augment water supply to Kannagi Nagar.

“Due to the power disruption we are not able to supply properly”, the official admitted.

He said that as a long-term solution, piped water supply would be provided. Water from Veeranam and the reverse osmosis plant at Nemili would be supplied. A separate proposal is also being worked out to strengthen the finances of the local body,” he said.

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