In an area like Velachery where finding open space for recreational activities is a tough task, the Chennai Corporation has retrieved a big open space reservation (OSR) land and opened it to the public.
The land measuring around 30,000 square feet had remained out of bounds for the public as it was maintained by the residents welfare association of an apartment complex.
A senior Corporation official of Adyar Zone says the OSR land measuring 29,916 sq. ft. was located in Bethel Avenue, Velachery. Located in Regal Palm Garden Apartments, the land was in a legal dispute for several years.
However, members of many residents welfare associations in Velachery say that more has to be done by the officials to retrieve OSR lands which have been encroached upon or caught in legal dispute.
S. Kumararaja, an office-bearer of Annai Indira Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association, says several OSR lands located ‘inside’ multi-storey apartments which are meant to serve as parks and playgrounds for the public have not been handed over to the civic body. A flat promoter in Baby Nagar has constructed a temple in the space allotted for OSR land. In another instance, a park set up on the OSR land inside a multi-storey apartment on 12th Street of Annai Indira Nagar was not open for the public.
Activists urge the civic officials to seriously pursue the court cases so that the OSR lands are retrieved. In some cases, the Corporation has lost the cases despite having the required documents to support its case, they claim.
