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Hope the following will help douse some cynicism in Chennai, for some time. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, many of the citizens who are interested in these kinds of projects believe nothing will change. Corporation of Chennai (CoC) will not do what is needed, they don’t have the commitment or the will ………..

Many of the shops on the stretch where the footpath work is going on had been asked by CoC to demolish their front portion to make space for the footpath. These stores, sometimes their steps or even a big portion were on the footpath.

Now, it is not easy to figure out who is encroaching and who is  not. (Luckily CMDA has digitized a lot of the property boundaries and marked what they believe is encroachment). Since we wanted to keep the demolishing to a minimum, since our focus is footpath, we identified where the footpaths were less than the required width. CoC officials then went shop to shop, marked the area and requested the shop owners to basically shave off their front portions.

Initially nothing happened. As expected. Interestingly there are good reasons for it. CoC officials and others have this explanation. Shop keepers may be more than happy to comply. But they too have little faith that projects like this would actually materialize and conclude.

So if the shopkeepers comply and demolish, and if the CoC does not follow through and deliver their part, no one gains. This time around the  CoC officials put pressure on the contractors to finish laying the curb stones, traffic islands, etc. Seeing this, and additional reminders, convinced the shopkeepers that CoC is serious.

It must be added that credit goes to CoC officials. They were under lot of pressure to “adjust” a bit. “Can’t we adjust and loosen the standards a bit and save the trouble of demolishing?” were the initial and immediate questions. But CoC officials made it very clear that there will be no adjustments and that the Mayor and higher officials are very serious about pedestrian facilities in Chennai.

Then one Saturday morning CoC landed on LB with tools and machinery to demolish. Interesting titbit. Contractors, who are laying the footpath, etc. are hesitant to do the demolishing since they worry about the shopkeepers’ wrath. They want CoC officials to do the demolishing. So that Saturday, CoC men did some damages, thereby marking the boundaries.

From then the shopkeepers acted fast. Some asked the contractors themselves to do the demolishing, hence saving them the headache of hiring demolishing crew. Other shops hired their own crew since more elaborate demolishing and reconstruction was required.

Some interesting photos and stories behind it.

Please note: whether rest of the property is an encroachment or not is outside the scope of this project. We are only interested in creating space for footpaths and when necessary, reducing congestion and improved traffic flow.

For a long time, Vasantha Bhavan hotel (VBH) has managed to convinced past contractors not to build footpath in front of their establishment. VBH used this to park their customers’ bikes. They even had a security guy to enforce this. Today VBH’s stairs that stick out into the public space has been demolished. VBH is putting his steps into his property.

Aruna Shoe Shop (AS) and nearby two or three shops are interesting cases. AS had only about 4 feet of space in front of the shop. I suspect the electrical transformer placed badly few meters away had created a “shadow” area. This made it impossible for pedestrians to walk in front of AS. Today AS and nearby shops have moved back considerably. We should have more than 8 feet of public space. A properly designed concrete ramp will be built in front of AS.

Petrol Bunk (PB). All around PB was open space. Vehicles would zip in and out since there was no concept of driveway nor footpath around PB. Pedestrians beware. Today, still under construction, are driveways and a much wider footpath. Initially the Traffic Police were concerned since they felt the space was being taken away from the carriage way (road). But now they are convinced this is fine. We are awaiting PB to move the giant Indian Oil tower that eats away from public space. Should happen in a few days.

There are some smaller reconstructions along this strip.

Finally, Lakshmi Sagar Hotel (LSH). This is the starting of the congested strip of footpath (if any) towards the Adyar flyover. LSH had eaten into the public space. Actually the building that housed LSH. But LSH had his juice stall outside. As expected all the following stores had also followed the example and eaten into public space.

This demolition is the most dramatic. Even their first floor balcony that sticks out has been demolished. Some of the shops along this strip have moved their rolling shutters back few feet.

Pretty cool!

One major move awaited is from the TNEB. They are supposed to move their utility boxes to the predefined utility strip (2 feet of space between the footpath and the road). CoC has written letters to them and done all they can. We hope TNEB will move the boxes ASAP since the final finishing of the footpath depends on this.

The rest of the space on the utility strip will be used for landscaping (and maybe guard rails). This will beautify the place. But more importantly, provide a safe barrier between pedestrians and vehicles on the road.

Here is a quick snapshot of the project: