The tax and town planning department of the city corporation is recording the frenzied urbanisation of parts of north and central Chennai where several residential areas are now being converted into commercial places.

Though T. Nagar is a classic example of how a residential area is now a bustling commercial zone where the residents are finding it difficult to reside any more, a similar situation will also happen in many other parts of the state capital.

The main roads of Anna Nagar, Kilpauk, Choolai, Purasawalkam, Perambur, Vepery and Nungambakkam are losing their residential areas to commercial firms. In the case of south Chennai, Tiruvanmiyur will soon choke the way it is getting commercialised, warned a concerned senior corporation official.

According to Ripon Buildings sources, the number of property tax-payers in Chennai has been approximately growing by 10 per cent in the last eight years and the city now has 10,71,914 lakh property tax assessees.

With the city undergoing expansion once in two to three decades, the people are selling their properties in the core parts and migrating to the suburbs for a more peaceful life.

Alandur, Adambakkam, Velachery, Ambattur, Madhavaram, Thiruvottiyur, Sholinganallur have had fewer properties, but are now gaining status as prime residential areas.

“Velachery was once ignored as it was on the periphery of the erstwhile Madras city, but after the ‘90s, the locality started witnessing a realty boom for residences.

Similarly, T. Nagar and West Mambalam were prime residential areas, but now commercial firms are replacing the residential properties,” explained a corporation assessor based in south Chennai.

The problem in Chennai is that there is no clear demarcation between a residential area and commercial area.

Anybody can open a restaurant or a commercial complex even in a narrow lane and the existing rules are often violated. All this adds to congestion, sources added.

Cm’s intervention sought against t nagar project

Residents of T. Nagar have written to chief minister J. Jayalalithaa seeking her intervention to advise the corporation against going ahead with its proposal of developing the commercial hub with skywalks and multi-level car parking, and termed it a move to squeeze the residents out of the locality.

In the letter to Ms Jayalalithaa, they alleged that the proposed scheme had not taken into consideration the interests of residents, but prioritised only the traders.

They pointed out that the movement of hundreds of residents belonging to streets abutting Usman road and Burkit road would be affected badly if the plans materialise. “Fire tenders will not be able to freely enter the streets in case of emergencies.”

The corporation has proposed to redevelop T. Nagar to decongest it by creating specialised hawker zones, constructing skywalks, besides multi-storeyed parking, among others. And, it had conducted the third and final public consultation on May 31.

Insisting that they were not against the growth of their locality, Mr V.S. Jayaraman, general secretary, residents welfare association, told DC that though the authorities envisaged creating skywalks for the hassle-free movement of pedestrians, they would also be encroached upon by hawkers.

However, Mr Raj Cherubal, coordinator, city connect, said the residents want everybody to move out of the commercial hub except themselves.

Mr Jayaraman reacted, saying, “We are not against the hawkers. But they will not even spare the proposed skywalks as the authorities have failed time and again to evict them from the pavements and subways.”

The residents also suggest that the hawkers be accommodated in the three-storeyed complex in Pondy bazaar.