The Times of India 22.08.2012
Land identified for 100 parks in suburbs
CHENNAI: Residents of Ambattur can soon relax in a more beautiful locality. The area is to be dotted with 22 parks, among the 100 to be set up by the Corporation of Chennai in the city's expanded areas. Under fire for allowing many parks to be razed for development projects, mayor Saidai S Duraisamy in the budget announced the plan to create more 'green lungs' in the newly-included areas.
There are 260 parks in the old
corporation limits. A corporation official said: "The mayor and the
commissioner are very keen on the new parks which will have modern
facilities, including music. There are also plans to plant herbs." While
residents and environmentalists welcomed the move, corporation
officials said acquiring these lands was tough. A senior official said:
"The spaces identified for the 100 parks in eight zones include small
parks, OSR lands and vacant places." According to Open Space Reservation
(OSR) rules, buildings with more than 10,000 sq m of space are required
to earmark 10% of the area as OSR land.
The second master plan
of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority shows that each
Chennaiite has only 0.46 sq m of 'green space' against the 17 sq m of
green space per resident in Bangalore. The green space, officials say,
includes parks, avenue trees and forest areas. In Chennai,
infrastructure projects, including metro rail, have claimed many parks.
The corporation park in Ashok Nagar, Thiru-Vi-Ka Park in Shenoy Nagar;
Nehru Park on Poonamallee High Road and May Day Park in Chintadripet are
now closed for metro rail works.
Corporation sources said
tenders for the new parks, 19 in Valsaravakkam, 9 in Madhavaram, 10 in
Perungudi, 14 in Sholinganallur, 13 in Alandur, 7 in Tiruvottiyur and 6
in Manali, would be floated soon. While the budget allocated Rs 30 crore
for the parks, civic officials now estimate the project will cost Rs 17
crore. It is also planned to rope in private parties for maintaining
the parks.
Many Ambattur residents are excited. "Many people
here are suffering because of the severe air pollution. More parks will
improve the air quality," said R Vijay Kumar, a resident. "There are
many empty plots, now used to dump garbage, which can be converted into
parks," he said.
B Narasimhan, a professor of botany at Madras
Christian College, said, "Steps should be taken to plant more trees in
these parks." People in other cities also expressed joy at the proposal.
Nayana Kathpalia, co-convener of Mumbai-based Citispace that fights for
open spaces, said: "It is good that Chennai will soon have 100 more
parks which will improve the air quality. Privatiasation is okay, but
proper monitoring by the civic body is a must."
