Urban News

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.

The Deccan Chronicle  14.10.2010

Commuters in the city are unanimous in identifying the two most horrible bus terminals in Chennai. One is Broadway and the other is Koyambedu private bus terminal. Broadway is the busiest but with the least basic amenities. Passengers complain that these bus terminals have no sanitation, comfort stations and the entrance and the surroundings are stinking pools of night soil and urine.

“The road inside is broken, forming pits of dust, rubble and water. During the rainy season, the bus stand becomes a place where no one can enter without fear of infection,” says a Broadway passenger. When all city roads lead to Broadway, the authorities, who claim to be doing a lot for the public transport system, are indifferent to the woes of the public.

Outdoing Broadway is Koyambedu bus terminal, which is handling hundreds of inter-state and inter-city buses. “This bus station makes one throw up due to the stink and filth around. As a place which caters to the demands of domestic and international passengers, it does not have toilet facilities and adequate security for women passengers,” says Ms Hema Shanmugam, a regular passenger and media professional in the city.

The bus terminal, which handles hundreds of private buses to different parts of south India, gives an image of a public toilet where all passengers are forced to cross pools of urine to reach the terminal. “Even after several complaints, roads and basic amenities are not being maintained here by Chennai Metro Development Authority (CMDA) and we do not even have a comfort station, toilet facility and hotels for ordinary passengers. Agents of different bus services pester passengers for better commission,” says Saraguna Pandian, a shop-owner near Koyambedu private stand.

The officials seem to have well adapted to these adventures at city terminals. “Garbage heaps and stinking toilets are still a shame for the whole system. As these terminals are maintained by different government agencies and have been ignored for several years, it is the passengers who will have to take up the challenge of accessing these terminals without stepping on the muck,” says a senior transport official.