The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) is likely to conduct a special drive to mark out OSR (Open Space Reservation) land in the 15 zones of the city, making changes in the land records.
The Commissionerate of Land Administration of the State government has requested the civic body to take steps to safeguard the OSR lands handed over to it by private developers. According to officials, some of the OSR lands continue to be in the name of the private owners in land records which were scrutinised by the Commissionerate of Land Administration.
Officials have informed that many private owners who had formed the layout were not traceable. After the formation of layouts, most OSR lands have been handed over to the the local body and converted into parks and playgrounds. Most of the 700 parks in the 15 zones have been established in OSR lands.
However, some of the land records pertaining to OSR lands have reportedly not been updated during the expansion of the Chennai Corporation by merging erstwhile local bodies in 2011.
Besides the GCC, other local bodies in the State have been asked to conduct special drive to mark out OSR lands. As the names of private owners are still in the land records, the local body officials are not able to legally protect the land from litigations and encroachments.
During the special drive, the officials will make the subdivision of the property and make necessary changes in the land records.
During the previous DMK regime in 2006-2011, a drive was conducted to retrieve OSR lands in old city limits covering 172 sq km of erstwhile Chennai Corporation. After expansion of the city to 426 sq km in 2011, some of the OSR lands in erstwhile local bodies have reportedly not been properly handed over to the civic body.
