Ban has little effect, construction materials still stored on roadside

Even though the Chennai Corporation officials claim that they have been acting against the buildingowners who store bricks, sand, gravel chips and other materials on road, they have failed to maintain the action taken report.

“Every day, I use Abdullah Street in Choolaimedu to commute to office. Along the way, there are two structures that are being constructed where the building owners have dumped construction materials on the side of the street. The sand and gravel chips have scattered, making it dangerous to two-wheel riders who skid at the spots,” said M Gopi, a resident of Choolaimedu.

It is not just the interior roads like Abdullah Street where this is common. Even major roads including Periyar Pathai, VeperyHigh Road are encroached upon by the construction materials.

When asked, a senior Chennai Corporation official said that the power to act against the violation have been delegated to the zonal level officials. He claimed that the officials have been taking action, but the senior official did not have any detail on the number of notices issued and building permissions revoked.

Meanwhile, the civic body had collected Rs 2.96 lakh as penalty from the residents dumping construction debris on roads and pavements from February 21 to March 6. The Corporation has also collected Rs 1.62 lakh for dumping garbage during the same period. The civic body would levy a penalty of Rs 2,000 for dumping debrisand Rs 500 for dumping garbage on road.

According to the circular issued in November, the Chennai Corporation officials should issue oralwarnings to the building owners if they find construction materials on the road for the first time.

“If the Corporation engineers found that the encroachments continued ever after the warning, notice will be issued to thebuilding owners and should revoke the building permission,” the circular said,empowering the officials to take action.

The civic body should also act against building owners who had obtained planning permission from Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) if they store the materials on roads and pavements maintained by the Chennai Corporation.