Demonstrations would not be allowed near Valluvar Kottam

Chennai : Protest meetings and demonstrations would not be allowed near Valluvar Kottam in an effort to safeguard the cultural identity of the memorial, Mayor M. Subramanian said here on Sunday.Participating in a meeting organised by the Nungambakkam Exnora Innovators Club, he said a government order would be passed shortly prohibiting such meetings and agitations around Valluvar Kottam.

Highlighting measures taken by the Chennai Corporation in Nungambakkam area, he said a health centre that remained closed for several years now would be revived in a fortnight.Latest equipment would be provided at the centre, which would offer screening facilities for poor patients at a subsidised rate.To complaints from residents about the poor condition of the 7th Street in Lake Area, he said tenders to concretise the road, before the monsoon, had been floated again. For better illumination, the 70-watt streetlights on all the interior roads in Nungambakkam would be upgraded to 150 watts.

When the Club's executive committee member K. Balasubramanian's complained about the lack of electric furnace facility at the Nungambakkam crematorium, the Mayor said 27 of the 38 crematoria in the city would be provided with gasifier units this year at a total cost of Rs.27 crore.A total of 183 persons working on contract in the cremation/burial grounds would be made permanent from Monday. They would be designated as crematorium assistants, Mr. Subramanian said. On the residents' complaints about frequent power failure in the area, he said power consumption had gone up this summer by around 50 per cent. Measures were being taken to install new transformers.

A park with a water fountain, to be developed at a cost of Rs. 20 lakh, would come up soon opposite Valluvar Kottam, he said.The Corporation was planning to provide escalators in several foot overbridges, including those on Haddows Road and Nungambakkam High Road. The cost of this project is expected to be around Rs. 2.5 crore, Mr.Subramanian said. He assured the residents that their complaints on the maintenance of storm water drains and improving the capacity of sewage pumping station would be looked into.Exnora International founder president M.B. Nirmal called for reviving the zero waste management facility at the Independence Day Park. Municipal councillors and officials participated in the meeting.