The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : In Tambaram, a war on encroachments

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 29, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Others

In Tambaram, a war on encroachments

Staff Reporter

Civic body drive targeting only poor pavement vendors, big establishments spared, charge activists

TAMBARAM: The Tambaram Municipality has stepped up its drive against encroachments on arterial roads, even as shopkeepers and activists have charged the civic body with ignoring big commercial establishments.

Encroachments have literally taken over the roads in Tambaram. Vendors who once spread open a basket and sold their merchandise on the pavement now boast pucca structures. In the absence of any government or municipal action over the years, every inch of available space, particularly on Shanmugham Road and the service lane adjoining GST Road, has been usurped.

It was only recently that the Municipality decided to take action against the encroachers following court orders and instructions from the Commissioner of Municipal Administration. Municipality officials began the eviction drive from the interior roads in the market areas and then moved to the service lane on the GST Road.

The encroachments prevented free pedestrian movement and created traffic snarls, said officials.

However, many pavement vendors whose temporary shelters were dismantled were back soon after the eviction. Municipality officials said they were aware of the problem and would take care of it. They said the drive would continue until all the encroachments were cleared.

At Pallavaram, shopkeepers on the Station Road began to dismantle the asbestos and fibre- glass roofing outside their shops on Tuesday morning, on seeing officials from the Town Planning Department and the Municipality workers.Traders and activists in Pallavaram and Tambaram said local bodies remained mute spectators when encroachers first built their structures. They also collected taxes from them, they said, before deciding to take action against them. Activists alleged that local body authorities targeted only the poor pavement vendors while big commercial establishments were spared.

The activists said that in West Tambaram, several big shops had occupied about ten feet each of the 60-feet wide Shanmugham Road to store their wares. They wondered why said the civic body was hesitating to initiate action against them. While pavement vendors were being evicted, huge advertisement hoardings on GST Road put up by commercial organisations with political backing were being overlooked, they charged.

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