Greater Chennai Corporation officials took down encroachments on the busy commercial streets of T Nagar in a day-long operation on Tuesday, following a Madras high court directive.
Corporation officials removed the illegal structures from Ranganathan Street and Natesan Street, and also the hawkers occupying the stretch abutting the Mambalam Railway Station. Earthmovers demolished the portions which were constructed without permission on public land. There was no resistance from the building owners targeted during the drive, which included prominent textile stores.
The corporation engineer of ward 136 said that they were adhering to the Madras high court' orders on a petition filed by 'Traffic' Ramaswamy. "We have been removing encroachments routinely. Of late, there is pressure on us to act to remove violations," said the official.
A majority of the encroachments were constructions that had been obstructing footpaths on both Ranganathan Street and Natesan Street. Hotels and shopping establishments that had built steps onto footpaths were targeted. However, as soon as the corporation staff turned their backs, the building owners rushed to re-build the broken portions temporarily.
Corporation officials said that apart from providing personnel support during the encroachment removal, the city police had the responsibility of monitoring such encroachments, which would help them in preventing it coming up again. However, police officers stood to watch on Ranganathan street as building owners rebuilt the damaged portions under their watchful eyes.
"We cannot do anything about it. All these people [shop owners] have legal backing to call upon if we intervene," said a police officer at the spot.
As the corporation had also removed hawkers, Ranganathan street and the street abutting the railway station, occupied by fruit and vegetable vendors, had a lot of space for shoppers to move about freely. But no sooner had the corporation staff left the spot, the vendors were back again doing business at their spots. "We cannot do anything about the mobile vendors. They are a big headache," a zone 10 corporation official said.
Corporation officials removed the illegal structures from Ranganathan Street and Natesan Street, and also the hawkers occupying the stretch abutting the Mambalam Railway Station. Earthmovers demolished the portions which were constructed without permission on public land. There was no resistance from the building owners targeted during the drive, which included prominent textile stores.
The corporation engineer of ward 136 said that they were adhering to the Madras high court' orders on a petition filed by 'Traffic' Ramaswamy. "We have been removing encroachments routinely. Of late, there is pressure on us to act to remove violations," said the official.
A majority of the encroachments were constructions that had been obstructing footpaths on both Ranganathan Street and Natesan Street. Hotels and shopping establishments that had built steps onto footpaths were targeted. However, as soon as the corporation staff turned their backs, the building owners rushed to re-build the broken portions temporarily.
Corporation officials said that apart from providing personnel support during the encroachment removal, the city police had the responsibility of monitoring such encroachments, which would help them in preventing it coming up again. However, police officers stood to watch on Ranganathan street as building owners rebuilt the damaged portions under their watchful eyes.
"We cannot do anything about it. All these people [shop owners] have legal backing to call upon if we intervene," said a police officer at the spot.
As the corporation had also removed hawkers, Ranganathan street and the street abutting the railway station, occupied by fruit and vegetable vendors, had a lot of space for shoppers to move about freely. But no sooner had the corporation staff left the spot, the vendors were back again doing business at their spots. "We cannot do anything about the mobile vendors. They are a big headache," a zone 10 corporation official said.