As the New Tamil Year ushers in an 'Integrated City', Felling of Trees, Disappeared Side walks continue

The new tamil year came in with a large promotion of an 'integrated city' coming up in the neighbourhood...news papers carried special advertisement features, a popular filmstar was on television through the day promoting the same, there are hoarding all over the chennai city promoting an 'integrated city' in chennai.

This new 'city' promotes walking!!! The ad.s read, 'walk to work', 'walk for entertainment', 'walk to the club', 'walk to school',...and it promised a lot of greenery all around. It also claimed to be the first integrated city around the chennai city!

Strange suckers we are! A city that was to begin with had much walk ways (foot paths, platforms, whatever you call them), destroyed them systematically (and the cycle ways too in the process) to ensure that citizens were discouraged to walk, they were further discouraged to cross the roads through the building of large boulders for road medians with the authorities yet to decide where to have the zebra crossings, then we have the continuing chopping of trees (more are to be chopped in the coming week we are told in usman road, ttk road and other places) and all this to make way for 'customized' city where people can walk to work, walk to school, have greenery, walk to shopping...whew!