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NT Bureau
Chennai, Aug 27:
 

ACCESS DENIED: The urgency in which the demolition was carried out and abandoned half way through has baffled residents.

        Under the pretext of re-moving encroachments, the Town Planning authorities of Ambattur Municipality have demolished the front portion of some of the houses on TVS Avenue in Anna Nagar Western Extension. This happened more than a month ago.

        The demolition has put the residents on the stretch into a lot of hardship and inconvenience. Venting out his anger to this reporter, one of the residents, whose entrance of his house had been reduced to just use his two-wheeler, says, 'I don't see logic here. They (Municipal officials) came and demolished the whole entrance citing it was on encroached land without any notice.'

        If they were such stringent officials, why is that encroachment is rampant on pavements of Radial House and its opposite side, Collector Nagar, and so many places in Ambattur Municipality,' he asks.

        If indeed, they follow rules and regulation correctly, they should have cleared all those encroachments by this time, he adds.

        Balaji, an official of TVS Avenue Welfare Association, said, 'Using a JCB machine, the EB cables, Metrowater and sewage lines have also been damaged.

        The sewage water stagnates in front of these houses making the place unhygienic and turning it into a breeding ground for mosquitoes'.

        Another resident says, 'I could not imagine, what would happen to those residents, in case of any emergency, because, the entrance of these houses are demolished and they use makeshift gangways to reach out to the main road'.

        People are afraid, rather agitated against Ambattur Municipality, that the monsoon is fast approaching and the tender process in Ambattur Municipality to reconstruct the drains is a long process taking another six months to complete, even if it (tender) was awarded in the coming week.

        The urgency in which the demolition was carried out and abandoned half way through has baffled residents.

        Keeping in mind the plight of the residents, will the Municipality take up the work of reconstruction of the entire stretch of the stormwater drain on a war- footing, only time can tell.