Deccan Chronicle 28.01.2010

8 more zones for Greater Chennai

Jan. 27: The field officers of corporation committees formed to figure out new corporation zones under the Chennai expansion plan have favoured the creation of eight new zones. According to health committee sources, the new zonal headquarters are likely to come up at Madhavaram, Manali, Thiruvottiyur, Ambattur, Alandur, Sholinganallur, Perungudi or Pallikaranai, Valasaravakkam or Porur.

Currently, there are 10 corporation zones and, upon expansion, the total number of zones will increase to 18. These eight new zones would be formed in the suburban areas to ease bureaucratic procedures and administration. On expansion, the corporation is likely to have around 175 wards and about 50 existing wards will be merged during the expansion plan, sources said.

Similarly, the engineering and revenue departments are also in favour of creating eight new zones and discussions are under way. The revenue department had also started approaching the nearby civic bodies to be merged with the corporation seeking their financial conditions and revenue generation process.

The engineering department, after assessing the infrastructure facilities in the suburban areas, would soon submit a report to the special officer. Currently, the corporation officials are focused on budget work and after the corporation budget in March, the expansion work will gain momentum, sources said.

Three factors, including population, geographic size and infrastructure, will determine the formation of the new wards. Within six months, the corporation, after assessing the infrastructure facilities in the suburban areas, would submit a detailed report with recommendations to the state government. The report will also explain the government about absorption of employees from nearby civic bodies and the execution modalities of the proposed expansion plan, sources added.

It may be noted the government recently passed orders to expand the Chennai city from 174 square kilometre to 424 sq Km.The new corporation limit will include suburbs like Thiruvottiyur, Porur, Ambattur, Alandur, Sholinganallur and Madhavaram.

Deccan Chronicle 26.01.2010

Multi-level parking for new House

Jan. 25: At a time when ordinary tax-paying Chennaiites struggle to park their vehicles in the metropolis, the state government is seriously contemplating the construction of the city’s largest ever parking lot for netas alone.

The secretariat complex now coming up at Omandurar Government Estate would have a multi-level vehicle park. The vehicle park would come up in the area where the old MLAs hostel is situated now. It would have a capacity to accommodate about 700 cars at a time, a senior state PWD (public works department) official told this paper on condition of anonymity.

In fact, the vehicle park would be as tall as the main secretariat building — six floors. To begin with, temporary arrangements would be made to park the vehicles in the open after demolishing the hostel. Construction of the parking lot would begin soon after the completion of the main buildings of the secretariat, PWD officials said, adding that tenders would be floated in the months to come.

Unfortunately, the multi-level vehicle park would accommodate the fleet of luxury cars owned by our netas and their associates. The government has accorded optimum priority for handling vehicles on the new secretariat campus that an 800-metre-long driveway (covered) has been constructed around the main building that houses the Assembly hall. The driveway would have six dropping points for ministers and legislators besides an exclusive entry point for the chief minister and the public. Landscaping would be done over the ‘tunnel’ driveway.