Public not consulted before starting SWD works, say residents

CHENNAI: The city might have gotten its Mayor after a gap of more than six years, but unchanged attitude of the Greater Chennai Corporation towards the opinion and concerns of residents shows that the city is still functioning as per the precedence set by the earlier regime.

Public consultation meetings, which were conducted before commencing new projects, are now a thing of the past, due to which projects get tangled in legal issues.

Recently, the GCC was forced to stop storm water drain works (SWD) in Besant Nagar due to residents’ opposition. They claimed that the locality’s sandy soil does not require a SWD network to carry rainwater to the sea.

“Without consulting the residents, the GCC started digging up streets to construct SWD. We came to know about it only after the earthmovers started digging. We had to fight to stop the project as the rainwater would percolate into the sandy soil faster,” TD Babu of SPARK, a civil society in Besant Nagar, said.

A few weeks ago, the GCC began SWD works in Besant Nagar claiming the project would stop water stagnation in the area. Following this, the residents held a signature campaign against the project.

“The GCC does not look into the reason for waterlogging. They must create percolation wells inside the drains and at disposal points. While the works have been stopped in Besant Nagar, they redesigned the drain in Kalakshetra Colony. Consultations with the residents could have avoided all this,” opined Babu.

This is not an isolated case. R Balakrishnan of VGP Golden Seaview Residents’ Welfare Association in Palavakkam concurred with Babu, and added, “A large sum of money could have been saved if the GCC consulted with the residents before constructing SWD in Kovalam Basin. Detailed project reports are public documents, but the civic body refuses to share them. After we informed the German Development Bank (KfW), they held a consultation meeting without showing the reports. Till now, we don’t have access to DPR,” he said.

Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of Arappor Iyakkam, said the public consultation should be made as a part of the process. “The purpose of the area sabhas is to ensure public consultation but there is no political will. The DMK wants federalism, but the government is not giving powers to local bodies and local bodies are not giving power to the public,” he added.

When asked about the allegation of GCC’s apathy, M Magesh Kumar, deputy Mayor, said that SWDs are constructed as per the recommendations of Thirupugazh Committee. “We’re implementing projects based on requests from the public. If any objections are sent regarding any project, we will consider their opinions. Even for the property tax revision, we sent details to all the owners and gave time to raise their objections. If needed, we’ll ask for public opinion,” he added.

Detailed project reports are public documents, but the GCC refuses to share them. After we informed the funding agency, they held a consultation meeting without showing the reports. Even now, we don’t have them

R Balakrishnan, VGP Golden Seaview Residents’ Welfare Association in Palavakkam