Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram to be part of Chennai

The whole of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts besides Arakkonam taluk in Vellore will be included in Chennai Metropolitan Area, Housing and Urban Development Minister K Radhakrishnan announced in the Assembly on Monday. 

The expansion will ensure equitable growth and integrated urbanisation, he said. Making new announcements for his department, the Minister said the initiative was to streamline development in areas around Chennai that were witnessing rapid urbanisation.  

Also, the measure will decongest Chennai city, he added. Announcing that a ‘Strategic Regional Plan’ will be prepared for the region, he said it will focus on aspects like transport, basic infrastructural amenities, guarding fertile farm lands and environment protection. To fulfil the goals, necessary changes will be made to the adminstrative setup of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, he said. 

According to Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority website, the present CMA comprises 1189 Sq km of Chennai district and parts of Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts. The expansion plan was mooted way back in 2011. The proposal was similar to what other cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad had done, expanding their respective regions to ensure proper development. 

Rs 555 crore package to revive Adyar; big allocation to improve rural roads

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a massive restoration package for Adyar River at a cost of Rs 555.46 crore, on Monday, while making a slew of other announcements under Rule 110 in the Legislative Assembly for Rural Development and Municipal Administration department and Municipal Administration and Water Supply department.

Palaniswami informed the House that the restoration works of ‘backwater’ and ‘mouth’ of Adyar in an extent of 358 acres had been completed. “In continuation, the entire stretch of Adyar from its origin to its estuary covering 42 km will be restored”, Palaniswami said. 

“Under Rural Road Development scheme launched by the state in 2015-16, as much as 3,500 km of rural roads will be developed at a cost of Rs. 800 crore in 2017-18. Following Centre’s nod to implement the second phase of the Prime Minister’s Rural Roads Scheme, an additional of 2659 km of rural roads and 25 bridges will be developed this year,” he said. 

Offering an infra-boost to the self-help groups (SHGs), the CM announced that as many as 1,000 buildings for the SHGs would be built at Village Panchayat levels. SHGs may use them for holding meetings, trainings, exhibitions, and each building would be built at a cost of Rs 60 lakh with a total outlay of Rs 600 crore in this regard. 

In addition, the state has proposed a credit outlay of Rs 7,000 crore to women SHGs. As part of the Swachh Bharat scheme, nearly 27 lakh individual toilets would be constructed in 2017-18 at a cost of Rs. 3,178 crore with the goal of making state free of open defaecation and each toilet built under this scheme would receive a subsidy of Rs 12,000.