The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Growth of Chennai should be planned carefully, says Kanimozhi

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Saturday, Aug 23, 2008
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Growth of Chennai should be planned carefully, says Kanimozhi

Special Correspondent

“Development should take care of majority of population and must be socially inclusive”

— Photo: Bijoy Ghosh

LOOKING AHEAD: (From left) T.V. Somanathan, Managing Director, Chennai Metro Rail Ltd; Kanimozhi, MP; S. Ramasundaram, Chairman and Managing Director, TIDCO; and Dinesh Kumar, Director, Airports Authority of India, Chennai; at ‘Chennai Version 3.0’, organised by the CII in Chennai on Friday.

CHENNAI: Chennai will grow whether people like it or not, so the sensible thing to do would be to plan that growth carefully, Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi said at a meet on Chennai Version 3.0 on Friday.

She said that development should take care of the majority of the population, and must be socially inclusive, without concentrating on the upper strata of society. She warned against the building of ‘ghettoes’ by segregating people along the lines of class, religion and other identities.

The meet, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), coinciding with Chennai’s Founding Day, was earlier addressed by Information Minister Parithi Illamvazhuthi.

He said that the government would work actively to position Chennai on a par with other international cities with high standard and affordable cost of living.

Elaborating on the government’s views, R. Sellamuthu, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, said that the public-private partnership was key for infrastructure development in the State.

Manikam Ramaswami, chairman, CII Tamil Nadu, said that the CII had chalked out a detailed vision for Tamil Nadu in sync with its National theme — India@75.

He said the Chennai zone had tremendous potential for growth in sectors such as automobile, electronics, healthcare and aviation leading to huge employment generation for both skilled and unskilled workers.

G.R.K. Reddy, chairman, CII Chennai Zone, in his theme address, said that Chennai Version 3.0 was aimed at developing Chennai into a new metropolis which was peaceful and safe, eco-sensitive and modern, yet culturally conscious. The ultimate goal was to create a “liveable, lovable and affordable Chennai” by the year 2025, he said.

Panel discussions

After the inauguration, panel discussions were held with speakers discussing challenges and solutions for infrastructure development, education and health sector improvements, and a discussion on the past, present and future of Chennai.

Government officials including S. Ramasundaram, chairman and managing director, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, and T.V. Somanathan, managing director, Chennai Metro Rail, and Dinesh Kumar, director, Airports Authority of India, Chennai, said that the government recognised the need for private sector initiative to make Chennai version 3.0 a success. But they also urged the private sector to look at enforcement and policy implementation as a societal issue rather than as a governance issue.

Infrastructure

Dr. Somanathan said that development of infrastructure should go side by side with encouraging demand for the use of public transport to reduce problems with transportation in Chennai.

A film on Chennai 2025 was screened at the inaugural session, and a document “Chennai Version 3.0 — Moving forward from Vision to Mission” was released by the Information Minister.

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