Chennai: Residents of Gandhi Nagar in Adyar will hold a human chain protest Sunday morning on 4th Main Road to express anguish at a “massive” concrete wall being constructed between the Gandhi Nagar cricket ground and the Adyar river.
The construction of the wall suddenly began on the northern side of the cricket ground in September last year. The residents fear that the wall would not only cut off the view of the river and natural air flow into the colony but would also obstruct flow of flood waters into the river during heavy rains, according to V. Sukumar of the Gandhi Nagar Residents Group.
He said the barbed wire fencing to protect the land belonging to the revenue department to prevent any encroachment had already been removed to facilitate the concrete base for the wall. Once the wall comes up, the space between the wall and river could easily be encroached upon without being visible to the public. This portion of the man-made bund was already accessible from the Adyar Bridge and Kottur side and the concrete wall would only invite further encroachment, Sukumar said.
Two petitions submitted with the signatures of about 65 residents to the Collector of Chennai, Chennai Corporation Commissioner and the Revenue and PWD secretaries at the secretariat last year on September 17 and December 24 did not elicit any response on the type of construction that has been taken up. On the contrary, some agencies kept doing the deep pile foundation followed by heavy plinth beam covering a length of about 450 ft., during the last four months, said Sukumar, adding that enquiries with the River Restoration Trust have also been stone walled.
