5 days Ago By P Oppili
1 2 Chennai: Five acres of vacant land belonging to Greater Chennai Corporation , which had been under encroachment was recently retrieved, are now being converted into a water body. A senior GCC official said the land had been given to Southern Railway when work on the MRTS line and stations was started. However, the railways kept the land without using it.
The fact that the land remained vacant emboldened a few encroachers who put up fencing at a couple of locations within that area. A portion was also used for dumping construction debris. Recently, when GCC commissioner J Kumaragurubaran inspected the area, it was found that the place could be encroached upon.
To avoid such problems in the future, it was decided to create a water body in the sprawling five-acre area, the official said. Now, the preliminary work on the formation of the water body has been completed. The civic authorities are planning to lay a walking path, a play area for children, and a tree garden around this water body for which the work is in progress.
"A detailed project report is being readied for this," said the official. On the usefulness of the new water body in that area, the official said Taramani, Perungudi, and Pallikaranai areas had perenially suffered water logging after heavy rainfall. The surplus water from these residential localities can be drained into the water body from where it will reach the closely located Pallikaranai marshland.
The new water body will also help in increasing the groundwater table in the nearby areas, he said. Kumararaja, president of Green Velachery Trust, said his team had proposed to set up a ‘tree garden' in the vacant area, close to the water body. The corporation officials agreed to help in setting up the garden by levelling the land and providing other required assistance.
"Soon the road connecting Taramani and Velachery will be transformed into a beautiful stretch, once the work is completed," he said..
