One section of Nageswara Rao Park in Luz has been ravaged and is in tatters. All due to GCC-driven civic work.
And the nature of the work is such that, with many roots systems of large trees damaged, many of them may not survive a cyclonic weather this monsoon.
The GCC-ideated and contractor-executed storm water drain (SWD) work activity has been on for the past three weeks, after similar work was executed outside the park and drains are being constructed in East Abiramapuram now.
The environmental damage that the contractor RVS has done to the park (and that has to be blamed on the GCC design) is enormous.
< The existing SWD on the road adjacent to the park is now orphaned and GCC is not going to bother about it anymore, it seems.
< The new SWD has been constructed in the eastern area inside the park after taking over the walker’s pathway. This now a no-go zone.
< The trees that were on the border of this walkway all have their roots damaged. If there is a Vardha-like repeat this season, all those trees, which are now considerably weakened will definitely fall and there is no hope of making them stand again.
< The new SWD cannot be functional until 2027 for water runoff from Luz Church Road side since CMRL now ‘owns and works on’ Luz Church Road completely for the tunnel Metro rail construction. So Mylaporeans may have to expect the areas around the park to be flooded over a short or a long duration (unless motors are deployed to pump out water, after every heavy rain).
– Report, photo – Sridhar Venkataraman
Mylapore times should start a campaign against this with the residents and the neighbourhood people, people who frequent the park, gather signatures, run online campaigns etc. Approach organizations like Nizhal and EFI and get guidance from them on how to address the issue.