For many years now, residents of VGN Shanthi Nagar at Ambattur Industrial Estate have been coping with the racket caused by two unauthorised shops that have cropped up in the neighbourhood. Residents of Chandrabose Street in VGN Shanthi Nagar say an automobile repairs shop and a welding shop that came up on the stretch in 2006 make the place noisy.
The whole spectrum of automobile repairs and tinkering work are carried out at these shops, throughout the day.
There are many seniors living in the neighbourhood and the noise seems to be unsettling them.
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Schoolchildren, with their parents, use the stretch to reach the Chennai-Tiruvallur High (CTH) Road to board school buses and MTC buses. Office-goers too use the stretch to reach CTH Road.
As the welding work is carried out on the road, sparks flying from the electric guns hurt passers-by.
“Our children are scared of travelling on the stretch due to the sparks from these guns at the workshop. We have to cover them (children) by walking beside them, and we get hurt ourselves. Several requests to the plot owners to use the space to put to some other use has been in vain,” says S. Kavitha, a resident of Ambattur.
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When it was formed, the neighbourhood was categorised as a ‘prime residential layout’ by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), which means the space within the residential layout should be used only for residential purpose.
Shops that sell essential items such as grocery and offer resident-friendly services alone can be allowed.
Several resolutions have been passed at the monthly meetings of the VGN Shanthi Nagar Residents Welfare Association and complaints have been lodged with the authorities concerned, but no action has been taken so far.
After a complaint at the police station in Ambattur Estate last year, the police conveyed a ‘peace meeting’ among residents and shop owners.
But the problem could not be resolved.
Residents have knocked on the doors of the Ripon Buildings, the civic body’s headquarters, to highlight the issue, but in vain.
“We would look into the complaints,” said a Corporation official.