Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority eyeing a plan to allow residential areas within the special industrial zones without addressing the concerns of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB).
It is learnt that CMDA has appointed a committee of senior officers who are studying ways to encourage mixed development in the industrial zone.
Interestingly, one of the recommendations by the committee suggested that the TNPCB’s concerns need not be addressed while permitting the residential activities. Sources said the decision also comes in the wake of committee examining proposals along the stretch of Thiruneermala-Thirumudaivakam, which have been zoned for industrial use in the Second Master Plan.
M G Devashayam, managing trustee of Citizens Alliance for Sustainable Living and a monitoring committee member, said the move could dilute the idea of zoning under the Second Master Plan. As per the Master Plan, land has been zoned to differentiate certain uses, particularly hazardous and environmentally unsuitable ones from residential purposes.
Green activists claim the area, which has been zoned for industrial use under Second Master Plan, is highly polluted and not suitable for residential activity.
However, it is argued that SIDCO is under process of acquiring lands for future industrial development and that the private developers had purchased the land in the stretch with intention to develop residential projects. But Devasahayam says it is illegal on the part of the CMDA to accord special sanction to dilute the Second Master Plan. “This requires a lengthy process. Public consultation should be held. One can’t simply accord special sanction permitting a industrial zone to be used for residential purposes.”
The committee also suggested that residential activity should be discouraged in the sites abutting major industrial areas such as IT corridor, Poonamallee bypass, Mount-Poonamallee High Road, GNT Road, Manali, Chinna Sekkadu and Thiruvottiyur belt.
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