Citizen connect: Remove temple encroachment in Velachery

CHENNAI: Residents and commuters are irked by the illegal temple encroachment at the 100-feet bypass road in Velachery for the past several years. They say officials fail to act on the violation even one year after registering official complaint.

The temple, Arulmigu Sri Vedhantha Eswari Amman Aalayam is located at the 100-foot bypass road in Velachery, next to an HP petrol bunk. The temple is alleged to have illegally extended a shed on a public space for several years now, with little to no intervention from government departments.

The commuters are complaining that the area is cramped due to this encroachment now particularly as the Velachery bridge construction is over.

“I filed a complaint on GCC’s website between June and July 2022, to which, the GCC directed me to the highways department. Disappointingly, I did not receive any favourable response from them, thus forcing me to register a complaint to the CM helpline about six months back, “ said J Sankar, a daily commuter and an IT professional.

Subsequently, acting upon his complaint, the highways department sent a notice to the temple management on April 3 instructing to remove the encroachment within seven days. They said the department will be forced to do so if they fail to remove it.

But, despite being more than a week, the encroachment remains in the same location, causing a burden for commuters, Sankar says.

“During the Velachery bridge construction, the department directed the removal of encroachment, but they refused to budge. The extended portion of the temple (encroachment) on the road is the reason for huge vehicle pile-ups during peak hours.” A shopkeeper said.

“We instructed the temple to remove the encroachment while bridging construction. However, as the deadline has already been crossed and due to mounting complaints, we will quickly remove the temple encroachment for easy vehicular movement,” a highways official said.