Third master plan for Chennai expansion: A look at the consequences

The expansion plan assumes significance as experts say there are various deficiencies in the existing city structure, and many basic facilities are not fully available to ordinary people.

However, during the meeting, the officials — including the minister and Greater Chennai Corporation Mayor Priya — decided to implement the welfare scheme on thousands of acres of outlying lands in Arakkonam and Acharapakkam.

Groundwater depletion 

Former Public Work Department official Thirunavukarasu told South First that the expansion of Chennai city would deplete groundwater in the new areas.

“The areas to which the CMDA had planned to expand the city limit have a lot of pristine groundwater, and the CMDA would pollute all that as it did in Chennai city by releasing sewage,” he said.

He added that water bodies, public spaces, air quality, and green spaces would also be affected, and energy consumption would increase.

As a former PWD officer with the Tamil Nadu government for many years, Thirunavukarasu, who was part of many such programmes, also said the expansion plan had not considered pollution and other consequences.

“To keep the groundwater safe, the CMDA has to plan an underground drainage (UGD) network,” he said.

He also questioned the need for the expansion and alleged that the CMDA did not have adequate staff to carry out the process.

“The CMDA doesn’t have enough staff to carry out projects related to the expansion, and considering the number of staff at present, a hundred more are required,” he told South First.

Boon or bane? 

The third master plan is expected to expand the area under the Chennai municipal corporation from 1,189 sq km to 8,878 sq km. But the advantages and disadvantages of the expansion plan have become a cause for concern among people and experts.

The Chennai corporation shifted the people who lived inside the city to areas such as Purumbakkam and Kannagi Nagar, which were originally outside the corporation limit.

However, during the second expansion plan, the corporation included Kannagi Nagar and Ezhil Nagar areas within its limits. Perumbakkam still does not come under the corporation limits.

“Even though Kannagi Nagar and Ezhil Nagar have come within the limits of Chennai, they still do not have proper basic facilities,” Thirunavukarasu told South First.

When asked whether the Chennai corporation or the CMDA would listen to people before proceeding with the plan, the former PWD officer said: “They will convene a meeting with the public and wouldn’t allow them to talk. Did they allow the people to speak during the land acquisition for the second airport for Chennai in Parandur?”

He also said the expansion would benefit only the wealthy and corporate companies as expanding the city limits would hike water tax and house prices and increase house rent. Price hikes would put additional pressure on the livelihood of the masses.

Citing the current structure of Chennai city, which is unable to control crises such as flooding, environmental activists Nithyanand Jayaraman told South First that the expansion plan would have implications on runoff and flooding.

He also said the government shifting the poor to other locations would increase.

Minister Muthuswamy was unavailable for comments.