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PHOTO: S.JAMES

Cool Retaining lush green surroundings

The colony has grown on what were originally paddy fields of Managiri village. Despite being replaced by concrete, the area still retains some of its lush greenness. A retired joint director of Agriculture Department and one of the early settlers in the area, Mr.V Rajaguru, says that Managiri villagers, who had an eye on making money with the city’s extension, began to sell their paddy fields in the late sixties.

When fields wore the garb of residential plots, B.N. Lakshmanan, a retired joint-director of Agriculture Department bought about 30 cents at a cost Rs.300 each. But as he could not manage to mobilise the money, he sought the help of his friend A. Subramanian, Accounts Officer, who in turn roped in another friend G. Ramanathan, then Deputy Collector.

The three friends bought the land and constructed houses at the same time. Thereafter, the Managiri Village Panchayat was upgraded into a Corporation in 1974. “Following the absorption into Corporation, the property tax rates were increased but certainly not the facilities,” Mr. Rajaguru laments.

Almost every house is inundated with water during the rainy season. “We literally have to wade through water everyday to reach the roads,” says R. Chandra. Ruefully she adds, “even after three-and-a-half decades, Deputy Collector’s Colony lacks well-laid roads.” The area received its first facelift after the construction of Sundaram Theatre in 1980’s and the then Orient Hospital, now Apollo Hospitals.

With the appearance of the hospital and the theatre, few teashops and petty shops came into existence as a relief for residents who otherwise had to walk up to the Collector’s office to buy groceries.

But how did the area get its name? Mr. Rajaguru says: Mr. Ramanathan, the then Deputy Collector, gave the area an identity and its name. Those days, to guide people, he also wrote the name of the area in nearby walls.

The area between Sivaganga Road to Erikarai Thottam adjacent to K.K. Nagar is now identified as Deputy Collector’s Colony. To minimise confusion, every street is numbered in proper sequence. The original street that got its name as Deputy Collector’s Colony is now the Third Street. In total there are four streets. The area that houses around 100 tenements address themselves as Deputy Collector’s Colony, K.K. Nagar as people often confuse it with DRO Colony in K. Pudur, says Mr. Rajaguru.

As elsewhere, the groundwater has receded from 20 feet to 200 feet with the development work going on all around. But the residents face no problem when the Vandiyur tank is full. Though the area is on a prime location, the colony retains a sense of serenity even today, says S. Gomathy, who moved in four years ago.

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