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.)

Kancheepuram collector briefed on flooding

Jeeva Nagar, the CMDA approved layout promoted by BLB Estates, T.Nagar, has witnessed unprecedented flooding during 2008 November-December.

We have taken up the neglect of the layout by the Mangadu Town Panchayat with the District Collector, Kancheepuram, Mr. Santosh Misra, IAS. He has initiated some steps to persuade the local body to act.

The scene of the flooding can be seen in this video by a resident, hosted on Youtube.



Another movie/slide presentation on the cause of the flooding can be seen here.



The residents have resolved that this is the last year when they will put up with such flooding, and a set of measures to be decided by consultation will be initiated early in 2009.

Unprecedented flooding in 2008

The unprecedented flooding in Jeeva Nagar, Kattupakkam, coming under Mangadu panchayat originally promoted by BLB Estates, has thrown life completely out of gear for the residents.

Appeals were made by the dozen families, including four literally at the centre of a lake, to the Kancheepuram District Collector, the Mangadu panchayat chairman mr srinivasan, the Commissioner of Town Panchayats Dr. Gopal and the Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu.

The pictures as of November 30 can be seen in this slideshow.

Apartment Block to come up at Jeeva Nagar

A proposal to put up an apartment block in Jeeva Nagar has been announced by the Himalaya Foundations Pvt Ltd, Chennai. If the preliminary information is correct, this block will be the largest in the layout. It is centrally located and has an individual house on one side which is already occupied.

A smaller block of four apartments is ready for occupation in the layout. The residents are now demanding that the Mangadu Town Panchayat complete its development works in the layout. These pending works include:

Completion of road laying work in the entire layout.

Putting up street lights

Steps to fence off and develop the open space reservation land for community purposes such as park.

Provision of drains.

Steps to prevent the misuse of the layout for open consumption of alcohol.

If you are planning to buy into the apartments advertised by the Himalaya Foundations, please send us an email at jeevanagar@gmail.com with your contact information. We would like to get in touch with you and enlist your support for these common activities.

The details of Himalaya Foundations advertised at the project site are as follows:

Himalaya Foundations Pvt Ltd
Engineers and Flat Promoters
Contact: # 138/33 Alagiri Nagar 2nd street, Vadapalani, Chennai 26
Tel: 044 24727887, Cell: 94444 53845 ; 94440 82054
email: himalaya_foundation@yahoo.co.in

Latest Photos of Jeeva Nagar, Chennai

Here are the latest photos from in and around Jeeva Nagar, the residential layout in Chennai neighbouring AUDCO Nagar, Kattupakkam and coming under Mangadu Panchayat.




You can view the pictures in bigger size by clicking on the link opening from the yellow person icon to the left bottom of the slideshow viewer.

Another housewarming in Jeeva Nagar

Another building is complete in Jeeva Nagar, for which the house warming was performed on Sunday. This building is closer to the Mangadu gate, and has a sizeable built-up area of about 2,300 sq feet.

The view of the layout as it appears on the day of this event should convince anyone that this residential complex is among the best shaping up in this part of the city, in spite of the neglect by the layout promoter, and the Mangadu Town Panchayat. The credit for all the development so far goes to the residents. The road in the photo was possible because the residents used the Right to Information Act, 2005, to compel the Mangadu Town Panchayat to act. The funds for the road were made available under the Anaithu Grama Anna Marumalarchi Thittam (Anna village renovation scheme).

Meanwhile active tree planting is going on in the area, with residents bringing Pongamia (Pungan) and Neem saplings for planting. Some of the labour in the construction sites are helping with the planting and watering. If you have a plot in Jeeva Nagar, please send us an email to advance the efforts for better civic development.

CMDA reply shows that Jeeva Nagar has access from Mt Poonamallee Road

The Chennai Metropolitan Develepment Authority has responded to the Right to Information Act application filed by the residents of Jeeva Nagar.
The reply makes it clear that there are two public roads leading to the layout, one in the Northeast and another on the Southwest.
The details of the roads are as follows:
Northeast public road -- 7.2 metres wide
Southwest Public Road -- 12.0 metres wide
Any obstruction of access from the Southwest Road, on the Mount - Poonamallee Road side is, therefore, not valid under the CMDA approved Plan.