On December 20, the Ripon Buildings, the headquarters of Greater Chennai Corporation, was busier than usual. Officials from the 15 Corporation zones and representatives of other government agencies including Tangedco, Public Works Department, Chennai Metrowater and Revenue Department, had congregated at the historic building, to deliberate on how to combat the situation that had been created by Vardah. In some parts of the city, the remains of fallen trees had to be removed, water and power supply restored and compensation distributed to the affected persons; there was quite a lot of planning to be done.
On such a busy day, D. Karthikeyan, Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation, took time out to talk to D. Madhavan about civic body’s plans to restore the city’s green cover, post-Vardah.
It’s over a week since cyclone Vardah; has complete normality been restored in all the 15 zones?
Complete normality has been restored in 80 per cent of the city. Total normality will return to the rest of the city by December 23. There is still work to be done in Zone 8 (Anna Nagar), 9 (Nungambakkam) and 13 (Adyar). Our team is working round the clock to complete the remaining work.
What are the challenges the civic body faced while clearing fallen trees from the neighbourhoods?
Two problems made the task challenging: heavy traffic movement during the day and parking of private vehicles on street lanes at night. Due to them, we could not clear fallen trees from the neighbourhoods even after power supply was restored.
This is the reason for the delay in restoring normality in these three zones, where the number of fallen trees is significant.
Is there any deadline for residents to dump fallen trees from their houses to the 58 designated spots identified by the Corporation?
On our Corporation website, we have provided details of the 58 spots where residents can dump their fallen trees. The deadline for this is Sunday (25 December), but it may be extended.
Do you have any estimate on the extent of green cover that has been damaged?
We expect to collect around 20,000 tonnes of wood from fallen trees — that is 50,000 fallen trees from houses, educational institutions and roads, from across the 15 zones — by the end of this week.
So far, we collected around 15,000 tonnes of wood from across the city.
What uses would the wood be put to?
We are holding discussions with the officials of State-run units such as Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Paper Limited (TNPL) as they can re-use them (20,000 tonnes of wood) for making paper.
We are also in discussion with Cooperatives-run sugar mills in the State as they too need such a large quantity of wood for the production of sugar.
We are not selling the wood to private units or companies.
As you know, Chennai is one of the few cities in the country that have a large green cover. What are your plans to restore greenery in the city?
As per our initial estimates, we may have lost around three-fourth of the total green cover in the city due to Vardah.
As a first step towards restoration, we plan to hold a brainstorming session with interested persons including environmental experts, NGOs, Forest Department and Horticulture Department and some residents of the city, by the end of this month. Based on the inputs from the session, we will decide on the course of action to be taken for restoring the green cover in the city.
It was said that the city had many exotic tree species, and this had led to the uprooting of many trees. What kinds of plant species will replace the uprooted trees?
I am not an environmentalist. But, we (civic body) prefer avenue trees as they impart an aesthetic look to the city. However, a decision on types of plant species that should replace the uprooted trees will be taken only after the brainstorming session and with the consent of the State government.
Has the Corporation made any requests to the Forest Department for new saplings?
No. We have not requested the Forest Department for the new saplings though we have a rough estimate of the required saplings. Only after the brainstorming session would we get an idea of the kind of plants that will suit a city like Chennai.
Besides the Corporation staff, workers of municipalities and local bodies from various other parts of the State were involved in the relief and restoration work. Can you explain their contribution?
Their contribution has certainly been of immense help in restoring normality. Of the total 22,600 workers involved in the relief and restoration work, 19,100 were from the Greater Chennai Corporation. The rest were staff of other local bodies from places such as Namakkal, Theni and Thanjavur.
Also, as per the instructions from the State government, we take care of their needs including providing adequate food and accommodation. Each non-Corporation staff gets a daily allowance of Rs. 100, and Rs. 2,000 for their entire relief work, from the civic body.
