April 21: While heritage lovers are keenly awaiting the formation of a committee by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) which will advise the state government on the modalities of preserving heritage buildings, some feel that a half-hearted approach will be pointless.

“Though the CMDA already has some sort of a heritage committee, with all the vintage structures being pulled down in the name of development, I wonder whether the committee is alive. Even if CMDA introduces a new committee, as long as people in Chennai lack a heritage sense, all efforts to save and preserve our heritage will go in vain,” said Mr Pandurangam, a central government retiree living in Nungambakkam. “See for example what happened to the majestic statue of King Edward the VII. Because of the construction of the new secretariat building, the statue is tucked away in a corner of the Connemara Museum premises,” Mr Pandurangam added.

Civic activist Mr S. Subramaniam said that while there have been instances of individuals and organisations taking up the task of preserving heritage structures, the number of vintage buildings being pulled down was alarming. “Recently the Free Masons society renovated an 85-year-old building in their compound, maintaining the vintage look. But such acts are very rare,” Mr Subramaniam said.

April 21: Mayor M. Subramanian on Wednesday kick started the construction of new stormwater drains to alleviate flooding in parts of South Chennai. The new drains will be constructed under the Rs 1,447 crore micro and macro drain project funded by centre under JNNURM scheme. The city corporation will construct micro drains at a cost of Rs 814 crore and the public works department would construct major drains at a cost of Rs 633 crore, the Mayor said.

And to mitigate problems of rainwater stagnation in Velachery, the civic body will undertake a total of 57 works including construction of canals and drains to excess rainwater. The corporation will construct drains covering 32.62 km at a cost of Rs 47.52 crore and PWD would construct major drains in the low lying areas of Velachery. For Velachery alone the government departments will shell out Rs 129 crore for the new drains, he said. The new drains on completion would benefit around 63 residential localities in and around Velachery including Shankar Nagar, Tansi Nagar, Kuberan Nagar, VGP Selva Nagar, Padmavathy Nagar and Indira Nagar.