AIBSNLPWA TAMILNADU CIRCLE

THE HINDU.News on Trials and triumphs in Alandur  Dec 20, 2014 08:50 PM , By V. Rama Rao 

Railway level crossing near the Pazhavanthangal station leading to Nanganallur in 1980.
Railway level crossing near the Pazhavanthangal station leading to Nanganallur in 1980.
V. Rama Rao on how welfare associations watched over the residents

In early sixties, those who had come to the city for employment found it difficult to get houses on rent within the city. People working in Southern Railway, Post and Telegraph, Port Trust, TNEB and various other departments and those employed with leading private companies such as Binny Mills, formed the Nanganallur Building Cooperative Society and also the National Cooperative Society.

The two societies purchased lands, mostly agricultural lands, from owners. Lands were then allotted in the price range of of Rs.750 to Rs.2,000 per ground.

In 1961, I purchased a ground at a cost of Rs.1,600 in Lakshmi Nagar, Nanganallur.

Alandur was the only panchayat at that time. The condition of the street lights was very bad and at night, one had to walk through the stretch in complete darkness after 7 p.m.

During the rainy season, people would have to wade through slushy water.

The societies laid the roads and erected lamp posts. The societies also helped in getting housing loan. In those days, the Central government used to sanction loan to the tune of Rs. 30,000 to 50,000 towards House Building Advance.

As the area was suburban in nature, the road transport service was very poor. The area had only one bus route ‘18C’ to reach Parrys Corner via Mount Road. However, the EMU services between Beach and Tambaram made things easier for commuters.

The first school started in these parts is Rajkumar Sulochana School, Nanganallur, followed by Modern School, Chellammal School and Prince School. The colleges were A.M. Jain College and S.D.N.B. Vaishhav College for Women, Chromepet.

The residents met Dr. Bhisma Narain Singh, the then Governor of Tamil Nadu, and submitted a memorandum seeking construction of the Pazhavanthangal subway, under ground drainage system, a library and a Government General Hospital. Though we could not get those facilities at that time, we managed to solve many civic problems such as lack of street lights, poor roads and lack of water connections.

A Rs. 40 crore ‘underground drainage project’, funded by the World Bank, was envisaged for Alandur Municipality on the condition that at least one-third of the house owners deposit a sum of Rs. 5,000 towards the project before its commencement.

This was made possible by the intervention of the welfare associations and their willingness to have a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). PPP would later become a model for the municipality. The delegation from several countries included the World Bank Team which visited the area and interacted with the welfare association. The project commenced in 2000 and was completed in 2003 and about 20,000 houses got underground drainage system.

Alandur was the first suburban area to complete the scheme. Pallavaram Municipality, which got started in 2000, could complete the scheme only in 2012. Tambaram Municipality is yet to have such a scheme. In this connection, it would also be pertinent to point out when the Municipality levied a monthly maintenance charge of Rs.150 as user charges. Our Federation took it up with the secretary, Municipal Administration (Water and Sewage) at the Secretariat and got it reduced to Rs. 60, 80, 100 and Rs.120 based on sq.ft.

Regarding water supply, the Alandur-Pallavaram water supply scheme ran into trouble due to the dwindling of the water table in Pazhayaseevaram (water source) in Palar river bed.

We have taken up the issue of rejuvenating tanks and Adambakkam lake and were instrumental in bringing Pazavanthangal Railway station between Meenambakkam and St. Thomas Mount. For this, the members of the associations took out a rally three decades ago. Also, the associations repeatedly urged the Railways and the State government to convert a manned level crossing into a subway at three places — St.Thomas Mount, Thillai Ganga Nagar and Pazhavanthangal Thanks to this sustained campaign, today people enjoy free flowing traffic in these places.

An important milestone was the prevention of the misuse of the Open Space Reservation (OSR) land assigned for a children’s playground, measuring 8 grounds in Lakshmi Nagar, Nanganallur. Attempts were made to use the land to set up a private school, which were thwarted by the Lakshmi Nagar Civic Welfare Association. A writ petition was filed in the Chennai High court and the land was restored to children.

During drought, when the water table dipped, the Associations took up the matter with the Collector of Kancheepuram and got a sanction for 30 Mark II Pumps, which were installed on roads for helping the public.

The associations have been periodically conducting medical camps and meetings such as World Water Day to create awareness.

The members of several welfare associations in the area as well as the residents have striven hard to bring more bus services and therefore we have 13 routes which touch Nanganallur. We have been repeatedly informing the government that the Rs. 1,100-crore MRTS project did not have patronage for the last 6 years due to lack of connectivity to Velachery and other stations .

A few associations in the area have a ‘Night Patrolling Scheme’ in the area and we have prevented crime in our area with the help of volunteers, a few paid security people and the police. The welfare associations here have installed 40 CCTV cameras at 18 streets in the area.

After the Alandur Municipal limits were merged with the Chennai Corporation, there were several changes such as good roads, installation of LED lights, rejuvenation of parks and restoration of playgrounds. Also with the support of the MLAs and Councillors, tonnes of garbage dumped in the Cantonment garbage ground for the past 30 years were cleared.