The delay in handing over OSR (Open Space Reservation) land to the Chennai Corporation has hindered the progress of development of parks in the city. Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority has not handed over 31 pieces of OSR land measuring 3.72 hectare in the city to Chennai Corporation.
The OSR lands are located in areas such as Velachery, Thiruvanmiyur, Sholinganallur, Pallikaranai, Thoraipakkam, T. Nagar, Virugambakkam, Saligramam, Arumbakkam, Adambakkam, Mylapore and Adyar.
The Corporation is unable to commence work on the development of parks in 100 new localities owing to lack of large open spaces in the city. At the Corporation Council meeting on Thursday, a number of councillors including Vasuki of ward 103 stressed the need for creation and maintenance of parks in OSR lands.
Responding to a query by the councillor, Mayor Saidai Duraisamy said a total of 152 parks have been developed in 578 OSR lands belonging to Chennai Corporation. Work on identifying OSR lands for 100 parks announced in last budget has not been completed so far.
“Efforts are under way to retrieve all OSR lands,” said Mr. Duraisamy.
Audit reports tabled in the past few years have also pointed to “persistent irregularities” in transferring open space reservation area by the CMDA to local bodies such as the Chennai Corporation.
The previous audit report observed that over half of the OSR sites gifted by applicants were not handed over to local bodies.
The details of many pieces of OSR land were not available online. CMDA has to collect an extract of property register from the Chennai Corporation and keep it in the division where the register for OSR sites is maintained.
As per development regulations, the space reserved for community recreational purpose shall be transferred free of cost through a registered gift deed.
