The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Reader's Mail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 11, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Reader's Mail

Plea to remove encroachment

Whenever there is encroachment of public land or water bodies like lakes, they are not removed then and there, making it be very difficult to do so later. This has been the experience of the government. Yet, the government officials do not learn from experience. Here is an example. A trader of G.S.T. Road, Chromepet has grabbed some land from the 15th cross street road space entrance (38th ward of Pallavapuram Municipality). Our Chromepet New Colony Residents Welfare Society reported this to Pallavapuram Municipality. The town planning officer of the Municipality went to the site and asked the trader to remove the encroachment by himself. But, the trader instead of removing the encroachment has constructed a compound wall. Not only is the trader in full possession of the encroached land, he is enjoying it too!

The VAO of Pallavaram has also unofficially confirmed to us that it is a clear case of encroachment. But the Pallavapuram Municipality, even after six months of our complaint, has not bothered to clear the encroachment. In fact, the Municipality appears unconcerned about the problem. The town planning officer of the Municipality is dragging his feet on the issue. Now the officer has apparently told the VAO to measure the road width. But the officer has not taken any action to seek the assistance of VAO till today. Will the Commissioner of Municipal Administration intervene in the matter and remove the encroachment in the interest of the public?

V. Santhanam,

President,

Chromepet New Colony RWS, Chennai-44

Quick action by EB staff

There was total power failure at 10-30 p.m. on the 28th in K.K. Nagar (West) Chennai-78 and attempt to contact the EB staff at K.K. Nagar over telephone met with no response. Immediately I contacted Chairman's cell (Phone No. 28524422) and the staff on duty noted my down residence number and phone number and informed the staff at K.K. Nagar. Within an hour's time, the power supply was restored and the EB staff at K.K. Nagar contacted me over phone after the supply was restored.

I really appreciate the staff in Chairman's cell also the staff in K.K. Nagar EB office for having taken prompt action to solve the problem.

R. Narasimhan,

K.K. Nagar

`Roof for the roofless'

Your article "Kazhai Koothu" artists, a community in transition, in The Hindu of August 16, 2006 was interesting.

It was encouraging to learn about the changing aspirations of the younger generation of the community of dancers and acrobats in the village. When "Roof for the Roofless" first suggested education for the youngsters in the community of dancers and acrobats, they could not see any value in education. After a lot of gentle persuasion, the youngster Chandru mentioned in the article came forward and Roof for the Roofless supported him through school and college helping him in every way so that he would be an example that others could follow. It certainly worked.

The late Dr. Chandran Devanesan started "Roof for the Roofless" in the early 1980's and we continue to help over a dozen villages in the area. We have transformed the lives of these villagers giving them new hope and dignity by getting government funding to build low cost housing, eradicating TB and leprosy in these villages through health awareness programmes. We also help in employment through education at every level including "The Dr. Chandran Devanesan Community College". We are happy that your newspaper has written about the changes brought about by the silent work of the many NGO's committed to make a difference and look forward to your support.

K. Sushil Joseph,

Chetpet

Nice gesture from railway staff

I wish to share my recent travel experience with the public to reveal the fact that there is still hope for humanity. I, an octogenarian, was returning with my daughter from Bangalore to Madras on the night of the August 28. Instead of boarding the Bangalore-Chennai Mail, we boarded the Kanyakumari Express by mistake.

Luckily for us, even though the train had started moving, we found out the mistake quickly. Before we could even think any further, the Ticket Collector (TC) who came on the scene, told us courteously and gently that we could get off at Bangarapeti station (an hour from that point) and board the Chennai Mail from there. Next, the A/c engineer spontaneously called his colleague in the Chennai Mail and asked him to inform the respective TC not to give away our berths to anyone, explaining what had happened.

Not only were we treated with respect (without a word of anger or enquiry) but were also offered the railway staff's seat till we got off the train!! The A/c engineer also informed us that the TC in the other train would look out for us at Bangarapet station and not to worry about anything.

My daughter and I got off at this station an hour later and waited for the Chennai Mail. We sat there without fear at a time when normally anyone would have been worried — exactly midnight! The Mail did arrive in 15 minutes, the TC did look out for us, beckoned to us and comforted us by asking us not to hurry as we started scuttling towards our coach as the train was coming in. He also told us to make ourselves comfortable first before showing him our tickets!

There is a Tamil saying — "Undaalamma ivvulagam" meaning `the world still survives because of such good people. If I ever have an opportunity I would certainly like to express my gratitude personally to the A/c engineer in the Kanyakumari Express on that day of August 2006. God bless him and my sincere thanks to the TCs of both the trains!

Sethu Bhaskaran,

Poonamallee High Road

Lurking danger on the highways

The news "Highway to Danger" is lucid in exposing the nightmare faced by the people on wheels on the highways. As rightly pointed out, the crossing of the highways (by people as well as animals) and mindless driving are the main causes for accidents. But there are other main factors that also contribute to this.

At least on the GST road beyond Tambaram, there are proper medians and trees with road lights to prevent head on collisions due to dazzling headlights of vehicles coming from the opposite direction.

But on many other arterial highways like the Ennore Expressway, the MFL-Minjur-Ponnery Highway, do not have proper medians or road lights, though they witness heavy truck and lorry traffic to and from Ennore Port. Further, Ponnery Highway, which is the only road link to Ennore port gate, is shrinking day by day and has become narrow from the MFL Checkpost. And the bridge at this point is a bottleneck and in precarious condition without any sidewalls to the full length. So, even the breakdown of a single lorry will cause a traffic snarl. Besides, the giant container terminals on this Highway encroach the major part of this highway by parking their huge container trucks right under the No Parking boards. This leads to line of vehicles for up to three kilometres, crossing Manali New Town, especially after 7 p.m. on most of the days. Those on the road (especially two wheelers) cannot rest assured that they will reach home safely in time. Poor bus services and the reluctance to take share autos because of the cost force many to go on two wheelers. The Government should act to remedy the shortcomings, which will definitely save many lives on such highways.

S. Sekar,

Manali Newtown

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