Don’t permit house construction on land near Adyar river: PMK

CHENNAI: PMK founder S Ramadoss on Friday urged the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) not to permit construction of houses on Adyar river in Nandambakkam.

"There are reports that CMDA has decided to give approval for constructing houses for a private construction company in survey number 170 which has six acres of land. The pocket of land which extends from Nandambakkam to Anakaputhur is present in land categorised as river and if houses are constructed there are more chances of flooding in Adyar river," said Ramadoss, in a statement.

He also said that for the past 17 years the private realtor has been trying to get permission in Adyar river to construct houses but was not given the permission. Only recently, the Secretary of Housing Department had directed CMDA to review whether the six acres of land can be converted into residential and industrial area. More shocking is that the Revenue department had stated that the land was not encroached and the Public Works department (PWD) had no given no objection for changing the category of the land into housing and industrial, in 2020-21.

However, based on the records it was found that agriculture was carried out in the land till 2020 and even in the map released by CMDA it is clear that the land is obstructing the flow of Adyar river. Already in 2015, though excess release of water from Chembarambakkam lake is the reason for flooding, obstruction in Adyar river was also another reason for flooding.