CHENNAI: The first meeting of the high-level committee exclusively to examine the proposal to reclassify six acres of land in Nandambakkam, which is marked as a portion of the Adyar river in the Second Master Plan map, as a residential and school building was held without the presence of officials from the revenue and water resources departments.
“The meeting was held this week but officials of both these crucial departments were absent, sources said. When TNIE contacted a top CMDA official, he did not comment. He also did not reveal details on whether the meeting has been postponed.
The committee was formed to assess the genuineness of revenue records, whether the land is a government poramboke or private patta land or whether it is a waterbody. The committee was to submit the report in the next authority meeting.
At the first authority meeting of the CMDA held under the DMK regime, the attempt to reclassify the land was opposed. But seven months down the line, officials have been questioning the Second Master Plan and claiming revenue records show it as a private patta land.
Sources said the CMDA is also studying reclassification of waterbodies in the first and second master plans. It is learnt that several CMDA teams have been formed to inspect waterbodies. Sources said there have been issues pertaining to the First Master Plan, in which waterbodies have been shown as open space reservation land, and this was rectified in the Second Master Plan. Sources said hundreds of survey numbers are going to be inspected before submitting the report.
To a query on why the study is being conducted, a top official did not comment. According to a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, many urban lakes, which are key to Chennai’s water security and are also flood carriers, have disappeared or shrunk. Between 1979 and 2016, the area under waterbodies declined. Adyar Estuary, a unique eco-system at the mouth of the Adyar river, which is surrounded by thickly-populated areas, has shrunk due to large-scale constructions in the estuary. And Mogappair Lake vanished as construction was allowed on the lake bed.
Similarly, the Ambattur Tank, which influences the flow of Kosasthalaiyar River, shrunk over the years due to constructions on the tank bed. Sources said they are not clear why the study is being conducted when the CAG report has almost all the details till 2016.