Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

True to its name

Gandhi Nagar remains calm and serene despite chaos all around

PHOTO:G. MOORTHY

UNTOUCHED Cool and quiet Gandhi Nagar

Any thought of Anna Bus Stand conjures up images of traffic snarls and crowd, air and sound pollution. But at a stone's throw from this busy and noisy junction stands Gandhi Nagar, somewhat true to its name. Endowed with a neat lay out, basic amenities, broad streets, good connectivity to the city, the Nagar beckons one and all especially the business establishments.

Earliest habitat

In fact, it was one of the earliest places in the city marking the end of city limits, says S. Chellham, an advocate, who has been living here since 1959.

He points out that in 1938 the Madurai municipality earmarked the colony exclusively for public while nearby Shenoy Nagar was created for municipal and government employees alone.

Those days, the Gandhi Nagar bus stop alias Collector office bus stop was one of the prime locations for all city buses.

Unnamed tank

The city buses were available in 1to 17 series out of which seven series of buses plied through the Gandhi Nagar bus stop, recalls Mr. Chellham, who is also the secretary of the Gandhi Nagar Welfare Association.

As the area is the extension of Mathichiyam village and there was an unnamed tank nearby, the groundwater level used to be high those days. But problem started when the tank was filled up with earth during the MGR regime and converted into the Anna Bus Stand. Things worsened further when hotels and restaurants came up and sunk their high pressure borewells. "Now, we have to till the ground for about 300 feet to get water," rues Mr. Chellham.

The sprawling eight-acres of Gandhi Nagar comprises four parallel and wide streets with as many as 78 houses. All the four streets are named after national leaders — NMR Subburaman, Abul Kalam Azad, C. Rajagopalachari and Jawaharlal Nehru. The street named after leader NMR Subburaman has become part of the Anna Bus Stand now where half-a-dozen houses exist.

First association

The Gandhi Nagar Welfare Association was first registered in early 1960s to look after, promote and protect the common interests of residents of the area in such matters as are connected with safety, electricity, water supply, drainage civic improvements and general amenities besides diffusing useful knowledge and promoting literature and fine arts among the children and residents. But soon this association became defunct and re-emerged in 1996 with the same name and objectives.

Residents mostly belonging to upper middle class chose the area for its proximity to the bus stand. The same bus stand brought in business establishments, shopping complexes, hotels and restaurants. "Though they are there, the area somehow retains its calmness," says Mr.Chellam. It is so because the association opposed the Corporation's move to allow buses to ply through the area aiming at one-way traffic.

S.S.KAVITHA

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail