Marina to be cleared of shops soon

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With complaints pouring in over illegal shops mushrooming on the Marina, the city corporation is working overtime to clear the mess.

Chennai mayor S. Saidai Duraisamy admitted in the recently-concluded council meet about the existence of a cartel in running unlicensed stalls along the beach.

The mayor’s announcement came in the wake of allegations by a ruling party councillor who said that the beauty of the world’s second longest beach was marred owing to lack of regularisation of shops.

According to P. Seenivasan, councillor of ward 116, the corporation is awaiting the nod of the state government to build kiosks to regularise thousands of stalls, which would generate revenue for the corporation and enhance the beauty of Marina.

It may be noted that the Chennai mayor, in his reply to the query put forth by P. Seenivasan regarding encroachments along Marina, had said that the stalls put up illegally at the beach over the years would be cleared and the need to rehabilitate the hawkers would be considered soon.

Even as the corporation proposes to beautify the coast for the benefit of visitors, environmentalists are of the opinion that a beach must be vacant and barren.

“The stalls at Marina are a cultural identity. Their presence will have a minimal impact on the coastal system. Moreover, a beach is supposed to be vacant, without trees and lawns.

It does not require further beautification,” said Jeyashree Venkatesan, ecologist associated with Care Earth NGO.

Meanwhile, a team of corporation officials visited the beach and directed the hawkers to remove their shops within a week.

Councillor hand in illegal water connection at Injambakkam

A ruling party councillor in Injambakkam on Thursday allegedly terrorised local civic activists and metro water officials when they objected to an illegal drinking water connection to an upcoming flat in the locality.

The civic activists alleged that all town planning norms and metro water rules had been violated to benefit the builder.

A group of officials from the Chennai Metro Water and Sewerage Board was humiliated by councillor V. Annamalai and after heated arguments, the team snapped the illegal connection and left the spot, sources said.

“Private workers had dug up a concrete road to provide water supply and when the residents objected, the councillor warned them of dire consequences,” complained K Sainath, president, Rajan Nagar Civic Welfare Association.

“Chief minister Jayalalithaa is concerned about public welfare and she has even pulled up a few errant councillors warning them to be clean, but our councillor has not changed and this is the third time that an attempt to provide illegal water connection has been thwarted in our area,” said Pon Thangavelu, a local resident.

Councillor V. Annamalai, meanwhile, said that a few vested interests in the locality were nnecessarily dragging his name into the episode. “The particular builder has obtained permission in 2010 from the Injambakkam panchayat prior to annexure of local body with the corporation.

The CM is keen on providing drinking water to every household, but some pseudo activists prohibited the Metro Water engineers from providing water connection,” he said.

“The councillors’ behaviour is unbearable and whenever illegal connections are identified and snapped, the ward representative abuses the department staff,” said a local metro water official.

“We have taken up the issue with our chief engineer and I have pleaded with my superiors to transfer me to some other ward, as working in ward 196 is becoming a nightmare,” the engineer added. When asked about the road being dug up without permission, corporation commissioner D. Karthikeyan said necessary action would be taken.