CHENNAI: The Metro Rail project, despite being the most awaited project in the city to offer hassle-free commuting for Chennaiites, is also becoming a major cause of concern for the environmentalists and residents of few areas. In a bid to elevate the corridors and build underground lines, it was proposed that several trees would be uprooted on Poonamallee High Road, GST Road, Anna Salai and 100 Feet Road and a few parks. Likewise, the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has begun work in right earnest. Trees, which are several decades old, were pulled down near the Kilpauk Medical College less than a week ago and huge trees were felled at Ekkatuthangal two months ago.“One of the biggest shortcomings of the Metro Rail project is that it is not subjected to environmental assessment and public scrutiny,” said Nityanand Jayaraman, environmental activist, when asked about the environmental perspective of the project, which approves uprooting of well-grown trees in the city.A Metro Rail official, however, claimed that as per the Supreme Court order, which states that ten times the number of trees pulled down should be replanted, CMRL has already initiated replanting in places like the metro water sewage facility at Koyambedu. He further said that a few corporation and private schools have been identified by the CMRL, which was waiting for the right season to plant the saplings. “We have placed orders with the forest department for saplings and have identified a few places. Since it is summer, we are not planting any saplings. When the appropriate season arrives, we will start planting them,” he told City Express, though he refused to be identified. Earlier, CMRL had said that the Urban Forestry Department would take care of the growth of the saplings that were planted.Nityanand Jayaraman has different views when it comes to the arrangements made by the CMRL. “It is like cutting a person’s leg and then paying him the compensation for it. There should be uniform green cover in the city. Now, it seems like the green cover will remain in one part of the city while the other part of the city goes bald. The children and senior citizens who wait at bus stands and those walk on the roads, have to bear the scorching sun if the trees are uprooted. There is no point in planting trees in one part of the city alone,” he told City Express.V Ravichandran, founder and chairman of Citizen Guardians, a non-governmental organisation, also raised similar concerns. “The duty of the Metro Rail officials will be over with that of planting of trees, but maintaining them is an issue. The schools might pull them down for infrastructural developments and that is not viable.” He claims that there has never been transparency ever since the project began. “A biggest drawback is that there is no law in our Constitution for the government to consult the public during such projects. I fought against the 40-year-old private encroachment of Corporation Park at Ashok Nagar and retrieved it in 2005. But the 14 grounds have been taken over by the CMRL for Metro Rail construction,” he lamented. Ravichandran also said that the traffic rearrangements made by CMRL for the project at Ashok Nagar disrupted the normalcy of the place.Meanwhile, the residents of Shenoy Nagar and other surrounding areas expressed anguish over the Corporation’s decision to give away lung spots in the city to the CMRL. Apart from the Corporation Park at Ashok Nagar, the Chennai Corporation has handed over Thiru Vi Ka Park at Shenoy Nagar, Nehru Park at Sastri Nagar and May Day Park at Chindadripet to the Metro Rail.“I usually take my children to Thiru Vi Ka Park for walks and now that the Metro Rail has taken over the park, we walk on the outer foot paths of the park,” said Gopi, a businessman at Shenoy Nagar. “Works have already begun to clear the trees and plants in the park and we are really disturbed by the act of the Corporation giving away the parks to Metro Rail,” he further said.Thiru Vi Park was a paradise for walkers, senior citizens and children till a few weeks ago when the Mero Rail started its work there. Thiru Vi Ka Park was one among the 26 parks in Chennai where Mayor M Subramanian announced free yoga classes to be conducted. What irks the residents more is that the park was renovated only three years ago at a cost of `1.52 crore and former Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin threw the park open for public in November 2008 with newly installed decorative lights, stone benches and children’s play equipment, only to be given away to the Metro Rail project. “It is good that a project like Metro Rail is happening in Chennai. But efforts should be taken by the officials concerned that the citizens are not affected in anyway. Also, the amount that went into renovating the park has gone in vain now,” said Seenivasan, another resident of Shenoy Nagar. People in and around Shenoy Nagar have no option but to look for an alternative for the 8.8 acres Thiru Vi Ka Park, their famous recreation place.
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