Chennai to Get 17 New ‘Lungs’ to Help It Breathe Easier, Exercise Better!

If you reside in Chennai here’s some news that will make you breathe better. Greater Chennai Corporation has received an allocation of Rs 12.66 crore under the Centre’s Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (ATUL) scheme to develop 17 new parks in the city.

These parks are slated to come up in the following parts of the city – Manali, Madhavaram, Tondiarpet, Ambattur, Valasaravakkam, Adyar and Sholinganallur.

The official press release mentioned that these parks would be built within the next 12 months.

In Adyar, two new parks will be developed on Thiruveethiamman Road and in AGS Colony. Sadagopan Street and TNHB Colony in Sholinganallur have been identified to develop three new parks. “The parks will have a play area for children and exercise equipment for women and senior citizens,” as reported in Times of India.

Chennai, unlike Mumbai and Delhi, does not have too many parks. The city has approximately 350 parks, and the corporation hopes to increase this number by year-end once work is completed in different zones.

“Of the eight parks taken up in 2015-16, seven have been completed, and the final park is expected to be ready next month. Out of the 24 parks taken up last year, we expect 18 parks to be ready by the end of March. The remaining six parks would require 30-35 days more,” said the publication.

Unfortunately each year the corporation promises to build and maintain parks in the city but the reality is something completely different. This has led to a backlog from previous years resulting in a huge deficit of green spaces in the city.

While this move is great, why wait for the government to take action? We have covered the story of an NGO called Kalam Arakkattala that managed to grow an entire forest in one year.

This small forest has been grown on a 22-cent plot of land with the support of local villagers. Imagine if a forest can be grown by the persistence and hard work of a community, then other communities must learn from this, come together and work at building and maintaining parks.

You can read all about that story here.

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