The Hindu 20.10.2010
Retrieved land 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, on Tuesday.
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.
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.
