It's always nice to share good news.
We have, atlast, got the good news we have been so eagerly waiting thus far. Yes. The Registrar of Co-operatives has given direction to the Society to pay up Rs.1.15 crores to the local body. This direction has been given by the Registrar vide letter dated 23.01.2010. It appears that the Society would make the payment by next week to the local body and the approval would be given by the local body shortly. We can expect the approval process to be over in a maximum period of 1 month time, hopefully.
It is a success for all of us. Congratulations to all of you. First of all, the Association deserves kudos for their sincere efforts taken for exerting pressure on the society and for impressing upon various officials to achieve this. Our congratulations to the Secretary of the Association, Mr.Vasudevan and his team. The duo of Mr.Sridhar and Mr.Michael too have played a big role in achieving this and they deserve our special congratulations. We would like to thank the former Special Officer, Mr.Jayapalan, Manager, Mr. Jayakumar and the present Special Officer and all the well-wishers in the Society. Our thanks also goes to the Registrar, without whose efforts, this issue would have dragged for ever.
We wanted the society to pay up the dues to the local body and we got what we wanted. The next step is to follow up with the society and the local body to get the approval at the earliest. This once done, what else the association can do for the betterment of the area. We had in our earlier post mentioned about the dumping of waste taking place in our layout with pictures and warned that unless and until we take immediate steps to find out the elements and make the area neat, more such will follow. We would have been happy had we been wrong on this account. Alas! But happened? No perciptible action on our association's part resulted in more dumping of waste, this time chemical/industrial waste in our area. Again the photographs are there for you all to see.
We have, atlast, got the good news we have been so eagerly waiting thus far. Yes. The Registrar of Co-operatives has given direction to the Society to pay up Rs.1.15 crores to the local body. This direction has been given by the Registrar vide letter dated 23.01.2010. It appears that the Society would make the payment by next week to the local body and the approval would be given by the local body shortly. We can expect the approval process to be over in a maximum period of 1 month time, hopefully.
It is a success for all of us. Congratulations to all of you. First of all, the Association deserves kudos for their sincere efforts taken for exerting pressure on the society and for impressing upon various officials to achieve this. Our congratulations to the Secretary of the Association, Mr.Vasudevan and his team. The duo of Mr.Sridhar and Mr.Michael too have played a big role in achieving this and they deserve our special congratulations. We would like to thank the former Special Officer, Mr.Jayapalan, Manager, Mr. Jayakumar and the present Special Officer and all the well-wishers in the Society. Our thanks also goes to the Registrar, without whose efforts, this issue would have dragged for ever.
We wanted the society to pay up the dues to the local body and we got what we wanted. The next step is to follow up with the society and the local body to get the approval at the earliest. This once done, what else the association can do for the betterment of the area. We had in our earlier post mentioned about the dumping of waste taking place in our layout with pictures and warned that unless and until we take immediate steps to find out the elements and make the area neat, more such will follow. We would have been happy had we been wrong on this account. Alas! But happened? No perciptible action on our association's part resulted in more dumping of waste, this time chemical/industrial waste in our area. Again the photographs are there for you all to see.
We need to rise up. It's time to act. Now that we are close to getting local body's approval. We need to have a vision to make it one of the landmarks of the locality. We have listed here the tasks that can be taken up by the Association. We can prioritise the works. The important tasks that have to be taken up immediately. Others can wait till some developments take place. Members’ suggestions for development are most welcome.
1. Task: First and foremost step is to enrol all the plot owners of Metro City to become members of the Association.
How to get it done: As proposed by one of the enterprising members of the association in the recently held AGM, we can gather the addresses of all the plot owners from the society and segregate it area-wise and give 5 addresses to each member of the association who resides in that area to go, personally meet the plot owners and convince them to join the association.
1. Task: First and foremost step is to enrol all the plot owners of Metro City to become members of the Association.
How to get it done: As proposed by one of the enterprising members of the association in the recently held AGM, we can gather the addresses of all the plot owners from the society and segregate it area-wise and give 5 addresses to each member of the association who resides in that area to go, personally meet the plot owners and convince them to join the association.
2. Task: To take effective steps to remove the plastic and industrial waste from the site.
How to get it done: Enquiries with the neighbourhood indicate that the chemical residue/waste have been dumped in the site by a local politician. It was informed by our sources that the waste would be removed shortly by the person, once it gets dried up there. The association can meet the local councillor and the municipal authorities and request them to take immediate steps to clear it and to prevent any such acts in future. If no steps are taken in a mutually agreed time frame, we can resort to agitative methods like inviting press and organising demonstration in front of the municipal authoirities.
3. Task: To clear the bushes and to put up a warning message in the site entrance.
How to get it done: As of now, our layout doesn’t look like a residential layout. As we have mentioned in our earlier post, if a place is full of bushes, it is difficult to control others from dumping waste there. On the other hand, if we keep the area neat and clean, it would definitely deter people from dumping waste in the site. In fact, when the issue was brought to the notice of the society authorities, they were telling that the plot owners should have taken care of the site and if they have not taken care of their area, how can we expect it from others. True.
But it would be difficult for the invidividual plot owners to clear the bushes in their plot. Many of the owners may not be living in Chennai now. In other cases, even if they are in Chennai, it might be difficult for them to find time to visit the site in person, engage people for cleaning the area. However, as it is a common issue affecting the entire layout, the Association can engage some labourers to clear the bushes in the entire site and put a message of warning at the entrance against dumping. Cost wise too, the total cost to clear the entire site would be cheaper than the total cost incurred by the individual owners on his plot.
4. Task: To lay bounday stones for all the plots and numbering of the plots.
How to get it done: Most of the plots do not have boundary stones. The members find it very difficult to identify their plots and even if they identify the approximate location, it is difficult to know the exact boundaries. In a meeting held by the society with the Association and the developer in 2008/09, the issues of laying of roads and boundary stones in the site was discussed and the developer, Mr.Rajan, though, was not ready to lay the roads, had promised to put in place the boundary stones. The Association can now take up the issue again with the society and the developer to get the boundary stones laid with plot numbers. If, for some reasons, this can not be got done through the developer, then the Association itself has to get it done, considering its importance.
5. Task: To name the roads and streets in the layout.
How to get it done: The major roads and streets do not have names. We need to take steps now itself to name the streets, as people would start construction soon. It is better to name the roads and streets with numbers like 1st Main Road, 5th Street etc., just as in well-developed posh areas like Adyar, KK Nagar, etc., as this will help in locating the streets easier than naming it with leader’s names.
6. We also need to put up a Board at the entrance with a map of the layout with street names and plot numbers to identify the plots easily.
7. To put name boards at the road/street beginnings with the street/road name and the plot numbers in that road/street.
8. To plant avenue trees in roads/streets
9. To develop the parks
The tasks at 1 to 5 need to be taken up immediately and those at 6 to 9 can be taken up in due course of time.
We should take all possible steps to make it a pleasant place to live. For that we should be innovative and have open mind to accept new suggestions. There are many NGOs like Exnora International and others from whom we can learn get help in getting plant saplings etc.,. We can adopt the Exnora’s idea of collecting garbage from the households and placing bins at streets instead of depending entirely on local government. We can set example and make others to follow our model.
8. To plant avenue trees in roads/streets
9. To develop the parks
The tasks at 1 to 5 need to be taken up immediately and those at 6 to 9 can be taken up in due course of time.
We should take all possible steps to make it a pleasant place to live. For that we should be innovative and have open mind to accept new suggestions. There are many NGOs like Exnora International and others from whom we can learn get help in getting plant saplings etc.,. We can adopt the Exnora’s idea of collecting garbage from the households and placing bins at streets instead of depending entirely on local government. We can set example and make others to follow our model.
This area would be coming under the Chennai Corporation from 2011 onwards which would help in getting amenities like road, drainage, drinking water etc., faster. Let's start planning now itself.
So, Let’s be the trendsetter. Best wishes and congratulations to all who fought for and those who helped in solving the local body approval issue.
So, Let’s be the trendsetter. Best wishes and congratulations to all who fought for and those who helped in solving the local body approval issue.
with best regards,
Raj
