Why BLB Estates, Chennai, should act quickly

Why BLB Estates, Chennai, should act quickly to save its reputation

Jeeva Nagar is a CMDA-approved residential layout vide PPD LO No. 134/2003, Survey Nos. 558/2B2, 559/2, 561/2 and 562 of Mangadu Village, coming under Mangadu Town Panchayat, Kancheepuram District. It has been promoted by a company called BLB Estates, T.Nagar.

This layout of over 100 residential plots has been in existence for the last five years, during which period about ten houses have been constructed and occupied. More people are keen to construct houses, but it is not feasible at present for reasons stated below.

During the five-year period since approval, the Mangadu Town Panchayat has not acted to provide basic amenities such as usable roads, street lighting, and drainage facility. On the contrary, the Panchayat has been claiming that since few houses have been built, it is not feasible to provide even basic infrastructure in Jeeva Nagar. In a reply to an RTI petition, the Panchayat has stated adamantly that it is not feasible to elevate the interior roads of the layout (Panchayat reference RC No. 468/2007/Dt 19.09.2007) although it was aware of the problem and confirmed receipt of complaints.

During each Northeast Monsoon period since 2003, and sometimes during the Southwest Monsoon, the residents have experienced terrible flooding, so much so that they are unable to move out of their houses without risking injury or worse, for three to four months. The images of 2008 are sufficient testimony to the gravity of the problem. During the monsoon, the residents had to keep company with snakes.

The reason for the extraordinary problem in Jeeva Nagar, which is just 200 metres from the Mount-Poonamallee Road close to the upcoming ETA Star gated community would seem to be somewhat unusual. The area has been excavated by those who had access to it earlier, to apparently feed a brick kiln industry with top soil. As a result, the layout has become a trough, holding a great deal of water each time it rains, and with no drainage possibility. The natural eastward drainage course of the area serving Survey Nos. 558/2B2, 559/2, 561/2 and 562 of Mangadu Village has already been encroached upon in the nearby porombokes, further preventing the drainage of water.

This situation is aggravated by the discharge of water from adjacent localities to the West and North of the approved layout into Jeeva Nagar during the monsoon. During 2008, this problem was at its worst, and the entire layout was turned into a lake.

The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority has acted with little sense of responsibility, and with complete non-application of mind, in approving a residential layout in a site that has been excavated and rendered a trough. Any professional city development agency would have inspected the site, and assessed it for its ground level vis-a-vis the surroundings, drainage and so on. That however, if a fait accompli today and having approved the layout, it is incumbent on the CMDA, the Mangadu Town Panchayat and the Government of Tamil Nadu to take remedial measures.

The residents and property owners do appreciate the help offered by the District Collector, Kancheepuram, Mr Santosh Misra, IAS, during the NE Monsoon 2008 which persuaded the Mangadu Town Panchayat to try pumping out the water from the layout in a limited way. But the Panchayat acted too late, having failed to do what it should have done earlier, and could not stop fresh ingress of water pumped in from other areas.

Most surprisingly, the Panchayat now refuses to move forward to solve the problem, citing proposed work by Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board on construction of a master drainage scheme.

As a result of inaction on the part of the CMDA, the Mangadu Town Panchayat (which collected Rs. 2.45 lakhs and Rs. 90,000 from the promoter and the CMDA respectively towards layout fees; Rs. 20,560 from CMDA towards development charges; Rs. 84,455 from building license applicants as of 2007) Jeeva Nagar has become unfit for habitation.

To set right this derelict state of affairs, the Municipal Administration and Water Supply department of the Tamil Nadu Government must implement the following set of actions that will do justice and secure the rights of those who have the very legitimate and rightful aspiration of building a dwelling and residing in the layout.

1. The Mangadu Town Panchayat should forthwith arrange to raise the level of all approved roads within the layout above the last known high-water mark, which would be safely assumed at six feet. This alone will make the layout livable and enable more people to construct houses and thereby improve the tax-base of the local body.

2. A drainage channel from this area towards the Porur lake or other suitable water-body should be created, either with an open channel or a pipeline.

3. Street lighting, promised by the Panchayat in writing since 2007, to meet the needs of the residents should be provided.

4. The interconnecting road between the approved layout and the Mount-Poonamallee Road, passing through AUDCO Nagar should be laid, jointly by the Mangadu Town Panchayat and the Kattupakkam Panchayat (which has part jurisdiction on the Northern side).

5. Attempts by some private parties to cut-off access to the approved layout on the Northern side by erecting a gate unlawfully should be curbed and the rule of law established. The road is not private property, as indicated by the CMDA in its reply to me in response to RTI petition and by the Mangadu Panchayat to another petition. The illegal structures should therefore be removed forthwith by the jurisdictional Kattupakkam Panchayat.

6. Open Space Reservation land handed over to the Mangadu Town Panchayat as required under CMDA norms are secured, fenced and preserved for their intended purpose, which is to serve as an open circulating space for the community.

7. Government can investigate whether the property developer, BLB Estates, T.Nagar had not provided the real facts to the CMDA to get approval and proceed against them, as well as against the CMDA officials responsible for such a defective layout being approved. Such a step would improve the approvals process and tighten the procedures at CMDA.

8. An enquiry needs to be conducted to determine why the Mangadu Town Panchayat and its Executive Officer did not act, despite repeated appeals made to it individually and complaints appearing in The Hindu on January 29, 2007 and earlier on September 26, 2005 in the "Readers' Mail" column.

It is untenable for the Executive Officer, Mangadu Town Panchayat to claim, as it has done to the residents in January 2009, that the layout is a new one (that is false, because it exists since 2003), and that there are too few houses for any facilities to be provided (without access to the layout, no new houses can be built. How can houses be built inside water?).

Finally, the works requested above do not involve major expenditures and are in fact essential if the objective of the residential layout is to be fulfilled, and the rights of the property owners protected. Rather than build a single road under the All Town Panchayat Anna Marulamarchi Thittam, as the Mangadu panchayat has done, the first step should have been to raise the level of all interior roads above known flood level.

The Government of Tamil Nadu should take necessary steps to enable property owners to build a house and reside in the approved layout, which is a legitimate aspiration and even more important, a legal right under the Constitution of India. It is also necessary for Government to act quickly to convince the community that there is some sanctity to a CMDA-approval.

Mangadu Town Panchayat responds to RTI petition

Panchayat EO says drainage scheme under Water and Drainage Board is proposed for Jeeva Nagar.

In response to a petition filed by a property owner of Jeeva Nagar, the Mangadu Town Panchayat has said it could take up road laying works in the layout only after a proposed drainage scheme of the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board is implemented.

We consider this an obfuscation, because we are only seeking 'kutcha' roads made up of debris at a height appropriate to the known flood level. This does not require major funding. We intend to pursue this demand, and have already written to the District Collector, Kancheepuram, Mr. Santhosh K. Misra , IAS, and the Commissioner of Town Panchayats, Mr. Gopal, IAS.

We will post the full reply of the Executive Officer, Mangadu Town Panchayat, here shortly. Clearly, the Panchayat has ignored the appeals made in 2007 and earlier by the residents about the recurrent flooding. The appeals were printed in The Hindu, see here.  A recent video of the flooding of 2008 is here.

At this point, we wish to express our shock and surprise that the EO has been harassing some residents of Jeeva Nagar on the ground that they had violated their building permission. This is ridiculous because the Mangadu Town Panchayat is yet to remove the stagnating rain-water, and compensate the ten house owners in the approved layout, who were surrounded by a sheet of water for over two months. 

The devious and mala fide actions of the Executive Officer have been communicated to the Kancheepuram District Collector and the Commissioner of Town Panchayats. 

The families of the residents who have endured the havoc of rain and flooding should be provided the relief amount of Rs.2,000 promised by the DMK Government immediately. The residents could file Right to Information Act applications, if they want to know more about the relief scheme; they should file individual claims for the amount, and if the Panchayat does not provide the money, should file RTI applications seeking to know why they were denied the claim. (Details of an earlier RTI application are available here.)