Chennai: Chennai corporation’s council led by Mayor Saidai S. Duraisamy will be completing its five-year tenure by next month and will pave way for the newly elected council.
Over the past five years, the city corporation has won several accolades for many activities including setting up the famous Amma canteen and the Centre’s award for its non motorized transport policy, which promotes footpaths and cycle tracks.
Some of its popular budget announcements like Amma theatre, pedestrian plaza in T Nagar and skywalks were also initially hyped, but they just remain on paper.
And the irony the corporation insiders admit is that the civic body has deviated from its original purpose of administering the city’s civic infra and has now become a populist corporation that appeases votebank in Chennai.
As on date, Chennai corporation runs more than 200 Amma canteens and wants to inaugurate a few theatres, but its original duty of relaying roads, removing waste and maintaining parks and a few burial grounds have been outsourced to private contractors.
The situation is such that even Marina, the pride of Chennai is now cleaned and maintained by a private company in bits and pieces. The civic babus have also forgotten about the submission they have made before the Madras high court that they will remove all encroachments and hawkers from T Nagar and Broadway and ensure that they are rehabilitated.
Similar is the case with illegal buildings, where CMDA is to be blamed along with the civic body. The situation is such that CMDA’s illegal buildings enforcement toll free number 18004256099 is not in use for more than a month.
Corporation’s commitment such as issuing building plan copies to neighbours to prevent illegal buildings, zero waste management and source segregation, multi-level parking lots in commercial areas, construction of grade separator at Ega junction to decongest Poonamalee high road and the interlinking of Usman road flyover to ease T Nagar traffic are also announcements awaiting execution.
Projects like dedicated bicycle tracks, online booking of parking space, growing palm trees along Cooum and identification of old buildings that needs to be demolished in areas like T Nagar and George town are non-starters
