Click to play videoChennai: The Tamil Nadu Government has dropped its ambitious plan to build a satellite town at Thiruporur, south of Chennai city. This comes after opposition from one of constituents of the ruling coalition, the PMK, opposed the move.
Growing population and traffic has resulted in a space crunch in Chennai. But the Tamil Nadu Government had come up with a plan to tackle the city's growth.
The plan was to build a satellite town that would act as a spiller for the main city.
But political pressure has led to the scrapping of the plan for the time being.
"I don't think it's been scrapped. I think it's been shifted as they are looking at another location. They need to figure out where to keep it so that political parties don't get upset about it," Associate Director of TrammellCrow Meghraj Property Consultants Ananthanarayanan says.
PMK, one of the DMK government's key ally, opposed the satellite town saying it would affect 5 lakh local residents near Thiruporur.
After several arguments, the DMK finally relented but denies that it is a desperate attempt to avoid conflict with its allies, which could have posed a threat to the minority government.
But in this political push and pull, Chennai remains bursting at its seams.
The 2001 census put the population of Chennai metropolis at 70 lakh. In the next two decades, the population is expected to grow to more than 1.25 crore.
Experts say that the only solution is to build a satellite town.
"One, to provide affordable housing to the middle class. Two, to decongest the city and three, to help develop less developed areas," director of Jones Lang LaSalle Ramesh Nair says.
Political pressure might have put a full stop to the first plan. But hopefully, there is a Plan B that will find another location for the satellite town.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
