Commercialization of Primary Residential Areas.(Contd)

Continuing on the illegal Commercialization of Primary Residential Areas - In 29th Cross Street, Kalakshetra Colony, Besant Nagar, the Fisheries Department has opened an outlet to sell Fish and have threatened to open a Fish eatery.

The local TNHB flat residents opposed to the Upmarket type of Fish Market but the Government has done sweet nothing. The residents sent a RTI to the Housing Board Department, as king them for what purpose that the vacant area (Originally belongs to the TNHB residents for recreational activities) had been given to the Fisheries Dept. The reply received was astounding. The Fisheries Department was given the place for an Institute to train people on packing of Sea food and not for a shop to sell Fish nor for an eatery to be opened.

This TNHB group of residents are mostly Vegetarians and some of them settled in these apartments some 30 to 35 years ago.

Most of them are Brahmins, who have been performing 'Tharpana' every Ammavasya day and also on other religious occasions when it is warranted. This has been going on in one of the car sheds for over 30 odd years. It goes on even now.

The Government states that there should be no Caste barrier. Why are the Brahmins hard hit below their belts? To my knowledge they do not protest or wield a stick if the situation is out of control. They just keep away from unnecessary trouble. But today the lower strata of Society is envious of Brahmins. Why? They have nothing great in them except being born as a Brahmin. They have the same blood groups of human beings and are no different from those who are called lower caste by the Government today. Wonder why is there a Forward Class/Backward Class/Scheduled Caste/Scheduled tribe etc when it comes to the educational system?

I am disappointed that a Fish Market needs to function without any License in a Primary Residential Area. One Government Department is cheating another.

Result: Many many years of peaceful living has been infiltrated by non believers. I am only reminded of a saying of one of the elders in my family telling me கெடுவான் கேடு நினைப்பான்.

India or Bharat became Independent with full knowledge of various castes and tribes. One should respect each others religious beliefs and not crush the same. I think most of us have come a long way and we are more ammenable to the requirements of the Society and except for a handful of uneducaed goons, by far people do live in a more amicable manner.

All the 55 years of my life I have spent maximum in Social Work and have helped to educate a Cobbler's family of 4 boys. The first boy studied Engineering and is working in a Multi National. The second boy completed his MBA and is now in a temporary job and likely to be made permanent very soon. The third boy who was not good in his studies did show a flair for repairing Mobile phones and I managed to get him trained for Cell Phone repairing in a Govt. Institution in Nungambakkam and today he owns a Cell phone repair shop close to his home. The 4th boy has just entered college in the field of Arts and Sciences. This family believes in Christianity but they also respect other religions.

None of the above mentioned children have forgotten their antecedents and do not hesitate to sit with their father to do the job of a cobbler at any point of time.

More in my next blog on my social work activities.

Commercialization of Primary Residential Areas.

As a resident of the formerly quiet residential locality of Kalakshetra Colony, I now would like to ask when corrupt official in both the Chennai Corporation and Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority has given permission for Commercial Establishments to enter into the Primary Residential Localities of Chennai, especially Kalakshetra Colony.

We find that the new CMDA rules and regulations which are valid till the year 2026, states clearly that Kalakshetra Colony is a Primary Residential Area and is also a layout done before August 1975.

Today we have so many Commercial establishments - Auroville, Grandma Grandpa (an expensive play school) , Til Spices (a take away), Kamanuri Art Gallery etc etc. Purple boutique in an interior road.

As per the rules for Primary Residential Locality we are allowed Tuition center in 100sq.m of area. Tuition can comprise of 5 to 10 students. But we have Winners Academy which is located in a 'cul de sac' and these people have a minimum of 40 students for classes starting as early as 6 am and children coming in vehicles as early as 5.45 am disturbing the peace and quiet of the area where many residents are senior citizens. The worst is at the end of the class at 7 am when some parents come to pick up their wards and are in a tearing hurry and they start to honk and create a ruckus thereby irritating the residents. The noise created by the children at the end of each session is another thing. They have sessions both in the evening and morning and at least two to three sessions in the evening.

This can never be considered a Tuition center but a Coaching center which definitely does not warrant its presence in a primary residential locality.

To top this all, none of these Commercial ventures have any license from the Chennai Corporation. The Corporation gave notices to all these commercial ventures and then slept through so that these commercial establishments can take injunctions. An oppotune moment for money making?

Letters to the CMDA (Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority) and Chennai Corporation has evoked no response.

Who is corrupt? If the CMDA does not take immediate action to our letters then we know that there is rampant corruption in the organization from top to bottom.

Rules are made to be broken ? Officers are busy with other matters of the Government that this is not so important.

Kalakshetra Colony consists of more Senior Citizens who moved to this area to settle down in peace but only in India and that too in Tamilnadu Senior Citizens are not respected and their everyday problems are ignored. Oops. I forgot the CM is Senior Citizen and he is well taken care of as he is at the helm of power. Residents have lost faith in the system and unless some action is taken to relieve the Senior Citizens of this pain, I feel the present generation will suffer even more when they become Senior Citizens.

Any one interested in taking appropriate action?

Is an Elevated Highway on the Beach essential?

I admire the Government's various policies but some of them are done blindly without realizing the impact of the same at a later date.

To have a smooth flow of traffic in Chennai, the Government has planned an Elevated Highway from North Madras to South Madras (read Madras as Chennai) along the Coast of Bay of Bengal.

The Government framed the CRZ rules. Now they want to flout it.

Have they given a thought for the Olive Ridley turtles which nest on the shores of Elliots Beach and toward the Southern belt beyond? They built an Eco Park and one is yet to see the birds nesting there. There is traffic movement all along this area and when do the birds ever get some peace?

Every day the RTO's (Regional Transport Offices) register 3000 vehicles minimum. Why do they register so many vehicles without having the roadsor the infrastructure for the vehicles to ply? Why is it that each household have 3 to 4 vehicles at no extra cost? Why is the Government allowing people to buy vehicles when they do not have spaces to park?

Has anyone seen a residential locality of late? Ninety percent of vehicles are parked on the roads. The builders use the parking space for residential houses and the Chennai Corporation or Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority do not bother. Obviously some officials turn a blind eye because of rampant corruption in the above mentioned organizations.

Disgusting.

I hope with so many skeletons coming out of the closets in many organizations, I look forward to seeing the corrupt being arrested and the builders loose their licences to build apartments for good.

When is the day one can see the rules not being flouted in this city?