Urban News

The Hindu       03.11.2010

Need to remove encroachments before establishing eco-park in Tirunelveli

TIRUNELVELI: While welcoming the Corporation's plan to establish an ecological park at Ilanthaikulam in Palayamkottai with a range of fun rides, the public here want the urban local body to clear the encroachments around the water body and take permanent measures to check the domestic sewage flowing into it everyday before commencing the work.

As the residents of Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai are left with no picnic spot or amiable places to spend their evenings or weekends leisurely, the proposal to establish an ecological park on the 64-acre Ilanthaikulam triggered expectations among the public. The proposed picnic spot with striking illumination is likely to have a range of joy rides, walkers' path, boating, cycling track, drinking water, toilets etc. as per the conditions laid down by TNUIFSL (Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Limited), the funding agency, to the consultant, Chennai-based M/s Darashaw and Company Private Limited.

However, the residents here are wondering how the consultant is going to start the feasibility study even as the corporation has not initiated steps to clear encroachments on the banks of Ilanthaikulam, to deepen it and permanently check the sewage flowing into it.

“Sewage flowing into the water body from the houses around the place should be diverted to the underground drainage system. Moreover, desilting of Ilanthaikulam will deepen it further to make it suitable for boating and clear the silt deposited for several feet over the years,” said S. Jayaraj, a resident living close to Ilanthaikulam.

Most of the residents near Ilanthaikulam also reflect the same opinion.

Waste of money

“The government is all set to give Rs. 33.41 lakh to the consultant and over Rs. 1 crore is going to be spent for establishing the park here. So, the corporation should work to make Ilanthaikulam a suitable spot for the recreational area. Otherwise it will be only a waste of public money,” said a professor with St. Xavier's College, Palayamkottai behind which the water body is located. When contacted, the corporation officials said that the corporation was in no mood to clear the encroachments. And no mechanism has been evolved either to desilt or to check the flow of sewage.

The Hindu  21.10.2010

Retrieved land to be converted for public use

N. Anand

CHENNAI: The State government will convert the retrieved land on the banks of the Cooum river into either parks and playgrounds or parking space, said K. Phanindra Reddy, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services, recently.

Addressing a seminar on ‘Chennai 2020,' organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here, he said that so far two parks – Langs Garden Road and Sivananda Salai – have been developed on the space retrieved from encroachers.

About 900 m of space behind the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board office on Link Road is being converted into a paid parking lot. The land will be handed over to Chennai Corporation.

The space at Padi Kuppam will be converted into a park. “This is to ensure that encroachment does not take place again. We are identifying more vacant places on the banks of the river and are putting them to public use. About 22,000 encroachments have been enumerated so far and this may go up to 25,000. We are constructing 29,000 tenements for those evicted from the banks of the river. Handing over of the tenements would commence from May next year. The resettlement will happen gradually,” Mr. Reddy told The Hindu.

According to Mr. Reddy, steps were being taking to stop the flow of untreated sewage from 337 points into the Cooum River. “It would be plugged in two years. We will start desilting the river, when the water quality improves.”

He said that out of the 1,657 auto repair/spare parts shops located on South Cooum River Road, 450 were encroachers, while 145 were living on Link Road.

“Those living in South Cooum River Road will be relocated to Appur and Perumthangal villages near Singaperumal Koil in Kancheepuram district, where the facilities to resettle them is under development. It will be completed in two months,' while the shop owners might take at least six months to shift,” he said.

The Cooum river restoration project is not limited to Chennai city alone as it would study the origin and the pollution brought in by the tributaries, he said. The State government has included the sub-basin also under the project.