The Hindu : Panchayat takes gazette far too seriously

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 11, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Panchayat takes gazette far too seriously

By K. Manikandan

CHENNAI MAY 10 . The Centre might have notified that there should be no further construction within 900 metres from the periphery of the Indian Air Force Station at Tambaram. But a local body adjacent the Defence establishment has taken the notification far too seriously and has even gone one step ahead — it has even stopped providing residents with basic facilities.

The residents of Peerkankaranai are a confused lot these days as they are unaware of why the town panchayat does not execute welfare works while they have surplus funds, a fact accepted by authorities. Residents of K.K.Nagar, Sriram Nagar and Devanesan Nagar of ward 1 in the town panchayat claim that basic facilities became the casualty in their locality ever since the announcement was made. Apart from ward 1, six others (between ward 2 and 7) have been partially affected, not due to the notification, but by the town panchayat's attitude.

The May 22, 2001 Gazette Notification states that ``no building or structure shall be constructed or no tree shall be planted on any land within the limits of 900 metres from the crest of the outer periphery of IAF aerodromes''. While this is the case, what was the necessity to halt even development works, ask residents. They recalled a meeting with the Commander of the IAF Station at Tambaram who said that execution of civic works was left to the State Government and that they had no objection.

Pointing out to the notification as an excuse, the town panchayat authorities stopped implementation of basic amenities in the seven wards, claimed residents. A resident of K.K.Nagar wondered why the town panchayat assumed that the notification would include in its purview, basic amenities too. He recalled that residents' association had written to the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, expressing their fears on eviction of existing constructions within 900 metres, following which the Minister clarified that the question of evictions did not arise.

The attitude of the local body, since then has come under sharp criticism and during a meeting held last month, councillors of the seven wards threatened to boycott the subsequent meeting if the town panchayat did not climb down from its stance and start executing pending works.

Convinced that the town panchayat authorities were in no mood to relent, the councillors decided to boycott the meeting. However, when the meeting was convened on Thursday, only K.V. Radhakrishnan, lone CPI(M) councillor, stayed away from the meeting. He said the decision to boycott the meeting was to bring the attention of the district administration and the Government to the problems faced by the residents.

Authorities of the town panchayat said they were being cautious in the wake of the Gazette Notification.

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