Chennai: Kancheepuram district has overtaken Chennai in terms of industries and urbanisation. A right to information act petition and census data available with DC confirms that the capital city has been slipping on urban indices like new industries coming up, real estate and population influx.According to a RTI filed by DC, 11,864 industries have come up in the state from 2009 to 2013 and of this Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Coimbatore, Vellore and Tiruppur have got more than 40 per cent of the units.
All these districts have overtaken Chennai when it comes to the total number of industries in each district.According to 2014 data, Chennai with 2479 industries ranks sixth in the state behind Tiruppur (6095 industries) Coimbatore (4712 industries) followed by Virudhunagar, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram.According to national census data 2011, Kancheepuram has the maximum number of own houses when compared with Chennai.
Interestingly, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur have more mobile phone connections , surpassing Chennai’s coverage of 62 per cent.Similarly going by revenue department records for 2014, Kancheepuram has the maximum number of revenue circles (firkas) of 67, surpassing Chennai with 40 firkas.Developing Tiruvallur district also has 52 revenue circles and real estate registration, registration of firms and establishments has been steadily increasing in the neighbouring districts, whereas in Chennai, despite expansion, growth is arrested, said a revenue department official, pointing out that the Aadhar card coverage of Chennai (41 lakh mark to be covered) is just five lakh numbers above Kancheepuram with 36 lakh Aadhar eligible people, despite it being the capital city.
Going by the population influx, Kancheepuram will soon overtake Chennai and Tiruvallur will match Chennai, the official explained.“The growth of Kancheepuram is visible and it is a fact that the district has surpassed Chennai. The ECR and OMR have boosted the real estate market resulting in population influx,” said former MP of Kancheepuram P Viswanathan.
“Kancheepuram is now a satellite town of Chennai and this is something like what Noida is witnessing when compared to Delhi. The district is blessed with the maximum number of educational institutions when compared to any town at the all India level and all auto global majors have a unit in the district,” he said, adding that availability of work force was another added advantage that boosted the district in the past six years.
It may be noted that Sholinganallur assembly constituency in Kancheepuram district is the biggest constituency in the state in terms of voters’ total strength of 3,40,615.
“Chennai reached its saturation point during early 2000. T Nagar, Purasawalkam and Parry’s lost their residential colonies, paving the way for commercial establishments and the city is certainly expanding more towards Kancheepuram,” opines A. Swaminathan former chief engineer, Chennai corporation.
“Chennai’s real estate market is limited and at present, more thrust is provided only to posh and high end buildings, whereas in Kancheepuram, flats are being promoted. In Tiruvallur, vacant plots are up for sale,” said S. K. B. Javeed Ahmed, promoter, Ruby Constructions.
