The Hindu 22.12.2010
Corporation to develop model roads soon
Aloysius Xavier Lopez
This will be
the preliminary step by the civic body towards redevelopment of
T. Nagar
CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation will soon develop Usman Road,
Thyagaraya Road and Sivaparakasam Road as model roads in the city. This
will be the preliminary step towards redevelopment of T. Nagar after the
civic body relocates hawkers to the complex it had built in Pondy
Bazaar.
The civic body officials are waiting for the court orders to proceed
with the relocation of the hawkers on the three roads. Within a week of a
court order, the roads would be cleared of hawkers, said an official.
After 210 hawkers on Usman Road are relocated to the complex, the
work on improving the aesthetics of the road is also likely to begin.
The road would become more pedestrian-friendly. The number of hawkers to
be relocated from Thyagaraya Road is 305. Fourteen hawkers are likely
to be removed from Sivaprakasam Road to the complex that has been built
on 43,032 sq.ft. space with three lifts. It would locate a total of 644
hawkers and shopkeepers, including those in the previous complex on the
same site.
Survey of the roads would be done including the trees on the stretch.
The footpaths on either side of the roads range from 10 to 15 feet in
width. The average width of the footpath is around 12 feet.
Trees will not be cut down during the process of development of some
of the stretches into model roads, said an official. Everything would
comply with urban development norms, he added.