How bottomless realty development brought Chennai to its knees

A brief comparison of satellite images of the suburbs shows that unfettered real estate construction is what has nearly submerged the city during the recent floods

The recent floods in Chennai are a stark reminder on the rampant real estate development in the city. Most of the lakes, ponds and other water storage areas have become either huge residential complexes or malls.

For example T Nagar, the city centre Chennai, used to have a huge tank. Today it has turned into one of India's largest retail hubs. Hundreds of shops were constructed illegally.

On left is a Google Earth image of Velachery area in 2000 and on right is the image in 2015 (Picture source: Activist Nityanand Jayaraman)

A report quoting National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) report stated that about 650 water bodies, including big lakes, ponds and storage tank, have been destroyed in Chennai city alone and only a mere 27 still exist.. It added that the city has only 855 km of storm drains against 2,847 km of urban roads.

Similarly, the 400-kilometer long Buckingham Canal, built by the British for navigation, is another example of waterways that turned into drains. Experts says a failure to de-silt it and the lack of a plan for collecting rainwater is another reason for the floods, adding that it is high time to revive those drain spots.

The maps in this article compare how many parts of the suburbans, around Chennai was in the past and now.

This portion of the Pallikaranai marshland was encroached upon to accommodate a massive IT building (Picture source: Activist Nityanand Jayaraman)