A 25 Years Plan For Chennai! Upcoming Changes And Choices For People

Change is an unchangeable component in life and everything around us has undergone change over the period of time. If you take Chennai for example, the future Chennai (after 25 years) will be far different from the present Chennai. If change is inevitable, then what all will be changed or what all needs to be changed?

If you have any idea about what all needs to be changed in Chennai, then this article is for you. The only thing you have to do is share your ideas with the government relating to the need for transport facilities (rail and road), need for bus stations, expansion of infrastructure etc. Citizens' participation will properly align the growth of Chennai city in the path of development.

DMK's Dravidian model government is brewing a mega plan to aid the development of Chennai, including extending the area of Chennai from 1189 to 5904 square kilometres. Within just 2 years of rule, DMK government is all set to formulate a 25 years development plan for Chennai. Further details were given by the Special Officer of Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA).

A brief about the 25 years plan by Special Officer Jayakumar:

2 months ago, an announcement was made to expand Chennai from 1189 to 5904 square kilometres. The plan for expansion is to include Tiruttani, Arakkonam, Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram. The next step in the 25 year plan is the preparation of a comprehensive mobility plan for Chennai city.

The purpose of the comprehensive mobility plan is to decide the kind of transport facilities needed in the next 25 years. Plan preparation was outsourced to a company which will submit the project report after a 15 months study period. The study period is expected to be completed in June 2024.

Now, data for the study is collected through surveys by the company and many government departments. Totally 16 surveys are planned to be conducted which will collect details such as percentage of people using bus transport and traffic volume via surveillance cameras installed at every junction.

Apart from these data, 50,000 houses are to be surveyed for information about people's way of commuting; their way of transportation for reaching shops and sending children to schools; usage of public and private transport; usage of metro; the most convenient transportation system for public etc. On September 18, Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin officially started the work by issuing brochures to the people.

The offline survey alone is not enough to prepare a plan for 25 years which necessitated an online survey also. In an online survey a QR code will be provided which should be scanned to fill the form. Otherwise people can register their comments on this website (https://cumta.tn.gov.in/#/). The website contains forms in Tamil and English languages and the forms contain 41 basic questions.

After collecting data from online and offline surveys, Google data and mobile data will also be collected. Such types of data are being collected for the first time to analyse everything and get a hawk-eyed view to formulate a fool-proof plan. In the past few days, over 300 people have filled out the online forms.

The data from the surveys will help in establishing railway stations, bus stops, parking facilities, metro facilities in the right and most needed areas. For example, approximately 6000 trucks arrive in North Chennai per day, out of which 2000 are parked there but North Chennai does not have sufficient parking facilities. All such kinds of information will come under project review before formulating the 25 year plan.

Finally, the project is divided into short term, medium term and long term plans. This way, future problems can be avoided by analysing data accurately in the short term, medium term and long term. "The government is working at lightning speed for the project", said the Special Officer.