The Hindu 29.01.2010
Vellore Corporation to launch eviction drive
Special Correspondent
| Ordinary meeting of Corporation Council held |
— Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan 
K.R. Selvaraj, Commissioner of Vellore Corporation, speaking at the monthly meeting of the council in Vellore on Thursday. P. Karthikeyan, Mayor, and T.A. Mohammed Sadique, Deputy Mayor, are in the picture.
VELLORE: The Vellore Corporation will be shortly launching a drive to evict all encroachments on Mundy Street, Long Bazaar, Moongil Mundy Street and the Nethaji Vegetable Market, according to K.R. Selvaraj, Corporation Commissioner. He was speaking at a monthly ordinary meeting of the Corporation Council here on Thursday.
Srinivasa Gandhi (Congress), 25th ward councillor, said that several new commercial buildings were being constructed in Officers’ Line and some of the buildings were constructed with basements. He sought information on whether they obtained permission from the Corporation and on the tax they had paid. He said that several unauthorised buildings were being constructed inside the Nethaji Vegetable Market. He wanted action to be taken against them.
Mr. Selvaraj said that the Corporation had powers to sanction plans only for buildings with an area of up to 2,000 square feet. The Vellore Local Planning Authority (VLPA) was vested with the powers to sanction the plans for buildings with an area of more than 2,000 square feet. The Corporation has issued notice to the owner of a building, which has been constructed without permission. The building would be demolished in a joint operation with the VLPA.
R. Arunachalam (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), 30th ward member, said that drinking water pipes have been broken during the work of digging trenches for laying pipes for the underground drainage scheme in his ward, leading to contamination of drinking water. The filling of the trenches was not done properly by the staff engaged in the scheme, with the result the drinking water lines got sunk under the pressure of the soil that is used to fill the trench since the space below the pipelines was not properly filled. The Corporation should ensure that its plumbers monitored the underground drainage scheme to ensure that the pipelines were not damaged. He wanted the drinking water pipelines to be re-laid after the completion of the scheme. Mr. Srinivasa Gandhi said that contractors engaged in the scheme were collecting money from residents for repairing the damage caused to the pipelines while digging the trenches.
P. Karthikeyan, Mayor of Vellore, who presided over the meeting, said that he would ensure that the Corporation plumbers monitored the underground drainage scheme in future. He instructed the municipal engineer to ensure that the contractor entrusted with the underground drainage scheme work repaired the damage done to the existing pipelines.
Mr. Selvaraj said that it was not proper on the part of the contractor to collect money from the residents for repairing the damage to the pipelines. Only an Assistant Executive Engineer and an Assistant Engineer were available to execute the Rs.30-crore underground drainage scheme. Proposals have been sent to the government for posting the sanctioned engineers to expedite the work and implement the work in a ‘pucca’ manner.
S. Dayal Raj, third ward councillor, requested the Corporation to provide a straight pathway for the funeral processions proceeding to the burial ground on the banks of the Palar on Old Katpadi Road. He said that at present, the funeral processions had to take a detour via Hotel River View and turn left into the New Bypass Road to proceed to the burial ground.
The Mayor said that at a meeting convened by the Collector to discuss the steps to provide an approach road from Vellore side to the new bridge under construction across the Palar, a suggestion was made by the Deputy Mayor T.A. Mohammed Sadique for the construction of a sub-way beneath the flyover. It would connect Shenbakkam and New Bypass Road on the Chennai-Bangalore Highway to provide the approach to the new bridge.
The Mayor said that the Corporation would, in association with the State Highways Department, examine the possibility of constructing an overbridge above the flyover to provide the approach road.
