Every monsoon, South Chennai goes underwater. The only sponge that soaks up all that rain is the Pallikaranai Marsh, yet around it, 8,619 hectares of land face severe flood risks. Despite this, the State has offered to protect only a fraction of that land. On October 9th, the Tamil Nadu State Wetlands Authority (TNSWA) told the Madras High Court that the marsh's interim Zone of Influence (ZoI) is just 36 survey numbers, covering 128.19 hectares. The next hearing of the case is on November 11th. Scattered "protection" These plots lie in bits and pieces across seven villages, from Pallikaranai to Perumbakkam.…
Read moreArticles by N Udhayarajan
N. Udhayarajan is an architect, researcher and hydro-spatial urban planner working at the intersection of water, spatial planning, ecology, governance and public policy. He is the Founder of Porous Being, an architecture and design practice focused on sustainable and ecologically sensitive built environments, and Director of Uvagai Research Foundation, an independent research and policy institution focused on water security, environmental sustainability and governance. His work examines how rivers, wetlands, tanks, canals, floodplains and drainage networks shape cities, settlements and infrastructure.