CHENNAI: Has Chennai Metro Rail started building its amenities centre at Thiru-Vi-Ka park, Shenoy Nagar, without approval of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA)?A reply got in May this year to a Right to Information Act query filed by Shenoy Nagar residents said that the CMDA was yet to give planning permission for the facility.This comes in the wake of the residents threatening to stage a protest against the construction of the underground facility as they allege that groundwater table has dipped to 60 feet in nearby localities.
The tender for the centre was awarded to a company in December 2018. The residents alleged that the tender process was pre-fixed as a member from the company surveyed their houses during November 2018 with a referral letter dating back to March 2018, even before the tender was floated. “All documents relating to the tender for ongoing works in the park have been removed from the Central Public Procurement Portal in the period from August 2017 to June 2019. Many guidelines of Tamil Nadu Tender Act have been violated. Only the construction cost is mentioned in a board outside the park,” said Thyagaraj B, member of East Shenoy Nagar residents association.
Also, no reply was received for RTI petitions directly addressed to State government agencies like the Public Works Department and Water Resource Department, and CMRL. “Even after going for first and second appeals, we still have not received any response since December 2018. Though CMDA said details related to biodiversity and water table were forwarded to the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, we have not heard from them,” said Sriram S, a resident.
Though residents have taken the issue to court, they says the construction has not stopped.
Water table badly affectedIt is learnt that the amenities centre is being constructed on 14 acres underground. Because of this, residents are a worried lot as their borewells have already gone bone-dry for the first time in three decades.A locality which was never dependent on Metro Water in the last 30 years, has been forced to buy water this summer, allege residents.
“Around 20 years ago, due to some problem, the entire city did not have Metro Water supply. But we were not affected as our borewells were brimming with water. As CMRL digs deeper and converts the park into a concrete jungle, water is not able to percolate to the aquifer, which is affecting the entire locality,” said K P Sivasubramaniam, a resident and a retired judge of Madras High Court. When Express contacted CMRL management, the officials refused to comment saying the issue is pending before the court.