A blunder caused by administrators of their local body has resulted in the residents of a locality in Pallavaram paying the price.
Vasantham Nagar is a quiet residential locality sandwiched between arterial Pallavaram – Thoraipakkam Radial Road and P.V. Vaidyalingam Salai. Though these two important roads are just a stone’s throw away from their houses, residents find it difficult to access them.
A compound wall on the northern margins of the layout has prevented their direct access to P.V. Vaidyalingam Salai on the one side, while an encroachment on a water channel on the eastern side has restricted their access. Elaborating, residents of Vasantham Nagar, in Ward No. 12, recalled that the layout was formed in the early 1990s and people began constructing their houses and started moving in a few years later.
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A few months ago, residents were taken by surprise when a wall came up on the northern side of the layout, completely cutting off their access to P.V. Vaidyalingam Salai. Enquiries revealed that the compound wall was raised by a plot owner on the property belonging to him. Confused, they recently sought a clarification from the Pallavaram municipality under provisions of the Right to Information Act and were shocked to note in the reply that the local body had given its plan approval ‘by mistake’ as the promoter had misled them by showing in the sketch, a piece of ‘patta’ land as the principal access to the layout.
Today, they cannot legally claim that the wall be brought down as it has been built by an individual on his ‘patta’ land. They have filed petitions with the Chief Minister’s cell. While the principal access has been cut off, the other roads too are so narrow that even autorickshaws cannot enter the locality.
The residents are angry over the approval given blindly by officials without proper spot inspections being carried out by personnel of the town planning section. They have pinned their hopes on the CM’s cell and the elected representatives to ensure that encroachments on the water channels and other obstructions are removed.
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