CHENNAI : Spread across six grounds, a piece of OSR land at AGS Colony in Velachery was lying vacant, filled with over-grown vegetation since the colony was founded in the late 1980s. After persistent efforts by residents to turn this piece of land into a productive space, Greater Chennai Corporation had finally started the construction of park here in May 2018, which will be open to the public by December 15.
The local resident’s welfare association has been actively taking up this issue since 2016 with the Corporation, both at the zonal and the local level. During the 2015 floods, the vacant plot was infested with snakes and other reptiles that would enter into the neighbouring houses, said residents.
“Every time I had to put clothes in the washing machine in the balcony, I had to check two or three times if there was a snake coiled under the machine. Water used to stagnate here even after light showers and this would attract a lot of mosquitoes,” said Geetha Ganesh, a resident of 4th Main Road and secretary of AGS Colony Resident’s Welfare Association.
There were also many efforts by people with vested interest to take over this land for their own personal use, said S Sundaresan, president of the association. “Many tried to encroach this space fully. But, we residents were adamant that only a park should be built here as per the original plan. When the land was filled with Seemai Karivelam shrubs, it was a hub for many anti-social activities. Children and women could hardly cross this place in the evenings,” he said.
The park, which is being constructed at a budget of Rs 90 lakh, is partially funded under the Central Government’s Amrut scheme, said a Corporation official from Zone 13. An official said that they received many requests from the government departments to make use of this land including the Revenue Department to construct an office and from Tangedco to build a substation.
“We were able to construct a park only because the local residents opposed to any other form of development here. In 2016, we removed all vegetation and levelled the ground. But, due to lack of funds we couldn’t start construction back then,” said the official.