The New Indian Express 14.09.2010
No ‘Singara Chennai’ sans public participation
Addressing a gathering of traders here on Monday after dedicating shopping complexes exclusively for platform vendors by the Chennai Corporation at three places, Stalin said, “During my tenure as Mayor of the city during 1996-2001, the civic body nurtured special schemes to make the city Singara Chennai, but ended up achieving only 50 per cent.”
He further added, “Though I could not complete the task as promised, Mayor M Subramanian is right on the target with a zeal to achieve it. But to achieve the 100 per cent, we need collective cooperation from all sections.”
He also called upon the public to extend their cooperation to tackle traffic chaos.
Speaking on the occasion, Mayor Subramanian said, “City Corporation has constructed the three shopping complexes at a cost of Rs 6 crore at T Nagar, Ayanavaram and Royapuram for 1109 platform vendors selected through proper process.” Stressing the point that the complexes are to keep pavements from these parts, free of encroachment, Subramanian warned the allottees that their allotment orders would be revoked if they were found putting up shops on platforms again.
He also appealed to the vendors to rethink before putting up shops on platforms. Besides being rational, the issue assumes urgency in the light of Chennai’s rapid development in the recent years. The rising number of malls and shopping complexes cropping up at different places and the increased evidences of people preferring these hubs for a hassle-free shopping experience, are just further valid reasons to de-clutter our pavements and make our city truly Singara Chennai.
