Deccan Chronicle 30.11.2009

Flouting every norm, parking lot flourishes

Chennai
Nov. 29: The Chennai corporation and the city police have driven away weekend cricketers from the Marina in the name of beautifying it but have turned a blind eye to a local slum lord flattening huge stretch of the beach with truckloads of earth and creating a lucrative parking lot for IT companies at Pattinapakkam close to the state police headquarters.

“It’s a huge scandal, a blatant violation of the coastal zone regulations, which is happening right under the nose of the DGP office,” says environmentalist Nityanand. But private operator Guru of the nearby Srinivasapuram fishing hamlet insists there is nothing wrong since the Rs 750 a month that he collects for each bus in the ‘parking lot’ goes towards celebrating the Adi festival of the local Thulukanathamman temple.

Guru had brought several truckloads of earth to fill the beach and used bulldozers to flatten a large patch of parking space where buses of IT companies and private engineering colleges are parked overnight. The mass parking lot is barely ten metres from the sea.

When DC reporters, under the guise of travel car operators, met Mr Guru to enquire his ‘rates’, he said, “We charge Rs 25 per day for each bus. Safety is assured in this parking lot that belongs to the temple.

Nobody will come to question us.” Asked about the blatant violation of CRZ and environment, city corporation commissioner Lakhoni said he was not aware of the crime and would order “immediate” investigation.