Greater Chennai

Chennai Corporation council on Thursday ratified a government order bringing in 42 local bodies in the neighbouring Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts under the Greater Chennai Corporation, expanding the city limits from 174 sq km to 426 sq km. Next month, residents of these 42 local bodies will vote, along with the existing denizens of Chennai city, to elect corporation councilors. Till then, any grievances about roads, streetlights, garbage or any such civic matter, they can be taken to the present local body officials and councilors. These local bodies will continue to function until the local body polls are held in October. The 200-ward city expansion, a brainchild of the previous DMK regime, was based on the 2001 population census. The development works in these areas will begin when the government sanctions the Rs 3,835crore-worth improvement schemes, cleared by the corporation council earlier, for good roads, streetlights, underground sewerage and piped water supply. Additional commissioners will be deployed in the north, central and south zones of the expanded city to better the infrastructure. They will be stationed in Basin Bridge, Anna Nagar and Saidapet. Most of areas under the suburban local bodies lack basic amenities and invite the wrath of the swarming middle-class families. Several local bodies are plagued with irregular piped water supply, poor disposal of solid waste, and flooding during rain. In the absence of decentralised solid waste management, vacant lands are used to dump waste. The residential colonies and the firms along the IT corridor that are worried about the poor civic upkeep have a reason to smile. The merger might streamline the garbage disposal, breathe life into civic infrastructure and bring more grants. Sholinganallur and Perungudi have been identified as zonal headquarters for those close to East Coast Road and Rajiv Gandhi Salai(OMR). The Greater Chennai Corporation will have 4,877 polling stations in the coming local body polls. Of the 200 wards, 84 have been reserved for women and Scheduled Castes.