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Infrastructure, other facilities etc present in many Chennai annexed localities not on par with those available in core places
Posted on: 01/Mar/2021 9:16:05 AM
A decade back, areas such as Tiruvottriyur, Manali, Valasaravakkam, Ambattur, Maduravoyal, Alandur and Madipakkam were annexed with the GCC is well known to us. The main objective behind this was to make sure that the people there got good infrastructure and facilities just similar to those at various core places in Chennai. The truth is that the ground reality and the views of many senior civic officials were different.
The boom in the land rates, rental rates, pucca roads, street lights etc have brought delight for many property owners. In these above said places the 2 essential services such as piped water supply and underground sewage connection remained elusive for the residents.
The point is that residents belonging to Ambattur have now only started getting sewage connections in their homes. The roads have been dug up and dust on the main roads would be seen in places like Ullagaram, Puzhuthivakkam etc now. It must be noted that on these 2 places in South Chennai the sewage connection works have been taken up. It is worthy to mention that the government medical and educational institutions continue to remain modest in the added areas. Truth is that inspite of the facilities falling under the GCC purview they are maintained by the respective district administrations. When compared to the core city areas, the number of schools and PHCs in the extended areas is lesser now. In the added areas, the residents pay more property taxes than those in the core places in the Chennai city.
A senior officer belonging to GCC brought out that those in the north and west Chennai added areas pay around Rs 11 per sq ft whereas those along Mont Road pay just 90paise per sq ft. He added that those paying Rs 11 per sq feet have to deal with septic tanks. The storm water drains or SWD have been proposed in places like Perungudi, Manali and ECR in 2021 only and it is clear that these places were left more vulnerable to flooding till now.
A resident of Manali expressed his thoughts. He spoke about how the residents there had to face issues of severe air pollution. He threw light on the ammonia fumes from the nearby industries that cause skin irritation to the residents. The lack of improvement over the years is worrying now. It was later mentioned by a senior engineer of GCC that since the expansion the civic body has been concentrating on providing well lit high quality roads in the extended areas.
The lives of the residents belonging to the extended areas in Chennai would not have improved so much if these areas were under the municipalities and village panchayats. This was pointed out by Mr. Saidai Duraiswamy, former mayor of Chennai.
