Chennai’s pursuit towards a green and inclusive city

Most of these tenements lack maintenance and have inadequate provision of basic services like water, electricity, schools and clinics have worsened the plight of these people. Moreover, the displacement has cost many residents access to livelihoods. Long commutes to workplaces have forced many to quit their jobs. Some say that Kannagi Nagar is a ghetto of criminals but people living in the endless columns of 23,700 houses here only hope for living with dignity.

Fishing communities along the 14 coastal villages of Chennai face serious consequences of rapid urbanisation and climate change. On the one hand, rise in sea level and coastal erosion are the biggest natural hazards. On the other hand, development projects threaten fisherfolk’s livelihoods. In 2010, the state government proposed an elevated expressway cutting across intertidal zones in these villages. The construction of elevated expressways will result in grazing of these villages, displacement of fishing communities, loss of livelihoods and severe threat to marine ecology. Some beaches on this coastal stretch are nesting grounds for critically endangered Olive Ridley turtles. Saravanan, fisherman and coordinator at the Coastal Resource Centre (CRC), upon enquiring about the project learnt that the land on which they worked was classified as wasteland, feasible for development projects. The project was stalled after fishing communities protested.

According to sources at the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, several sustainable growth plans are anticipated in the third Master Plan 2026, which emphasize on affordable housing for the poor and a blue-green print for land-use and conservation of water bodies.  Consultations were carried out with transgender people, people with disability and fishing community members to understand their requirements. Moreover, through Vision 2023, the government aims to make Chennai slum free by providing housing for urban poor.

In June 2019, Chennai Corporation launched a resilience strategy in partnership with 100 Resilient Cities, a programme by the Rockefeller Foundation. Urban Horticulture was initiated through roof-top farms, with a specific goal of ensuring food security, nutrition and livelihood training for the families in resettlement colonies. The Water as Leverage project was introduced for stormwater management, urban heat island mitigation and to promote nature-based solutions for water needs.

However, as Chennai-based writer Nityanand Jayaraman said during our visit to Pulicat where Adani’s port expansion remains stalled: “Engineering solutions are not the only answer to Chennai’s urbanisation and climate change challenges. Political changes are required and land use challenges need to be addressed.”

Inclusive sustainable growth requires strategic, comprehensive policies that consider the needs and aspirations of even the most vulnerable communities to ensure that everyone in the city grows together.

To ensure development in the truest sense, Chennai needs to address both short-term and long-term aspects of coastal development, housing and resettlement, livelihood opportunities, transport accessibility, social and environmental impact of projects, social equality and ecological restoration.

The initiatives led by Saravanan or the fishing women of Pulicat, programmes on inclusive growth, as well as programmes for improved sustainable habitation and eco-restoration, could prove to be the pathways to lead Chennai into greater resilience and into becoming a city where everyone can live with dignity and has equal opportunities for growth.