Police station built on waterbody sans approval

Already entangled in an allegation of waterbody encroachment from activists and politicians, the new under-construction police station in Semmenchery has landed in another trouble. In a reply to an RTI petition, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) said that the police station is being built without a building plan approval.

Activists, who had filed the RTI petition has demanded the planning authority to issue stop work and demolition notices on the new police station that is allegedly being built on a waterbody — Thamaraikeni.

In a representation sent to the planning authority, the NGO had already pointed out the police station was being built on the lake and sought intervention from the CMDA to cancel the reclassification of the waterbody to institutional use zone citing High Court orders.

“Through RTI, I had sought details about the application of construction plan approval, whether the approval for the construction has been given and sought copies of the plan approval and blueprint,” a representative of the NGO said.

Responding to the RTI petition, CMDA said that the authority had received planning application for the proposed construction of police station building at Semmenchery with ground plus first floor and the application is under process.

“As the building has no planning permission, CMDA should take immediate steps to demolish the police station. Apart from issuing a stop work notice and demolishing the building, The CMDA should reject the approval of the plan for the police station as it has already been constructed without a valid approval. Without planning approval, they have raised the construction of police station to the roof of the first floor,” urged the NGO.

The NGO also demanded to cancel the reclassification of the waterbody and to restore Thamaraikeni. Earlier, DMK MP Kanimozhi had tweeted against the construction on the waterbody, following which the issue came centre stage.

According to residents, construction began in May when earthmovers levelled the area behind the bund adjacent to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board substation.

The residents added that the lake, which was sprawling over 80 acres, has now been reduced to 26 acres. “Last year, an organisation initiated the restoration work and restored the lake after more than six months of efforts. “However, within a year of the restoration, government authorities started encroaching upon the lake,” the residents pointed out.