Chennai metropolitan area


Metropolitan area includes a city and its suburbs. For the city, visit Chennai district
The Chennai Metropolitan Area is the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in India, the 22nd-most in Asia, and the 40th-most in the world. The CMA consists of the central city of Chennai and its suburbs distributed in Kanchipuram, Chengpattu and Thiruvallur districts. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority is the nodal agency that handles town planning and development within the metro area. Since 1974, an area encompassing 1189 km2 around the city has been designated as the CMA and the CMDA has been designated as the authority to plan the growth of the city and the area around it.

Economy

Chennai metropolitan area's economy of US$58.6 billion PPP is currently rated the fourth-largest economy in India, ahead of the Bangalore metropolitan area and after the Kolkata metropolitan area.
While no official figure has been given for the population in the newly expanded Chennai metropolitan area, the urban population was estimated to be over 10 million in early 2017. The 2011 census figure for the population of the Chennai "UA/Metropolitan region" was 8,653,521.

Composition

The CMA is a metropolitan area in Tamil Nadu state, consisting of the state capital Chennai and its satellite towns. Developing over a period of about 20 years, it consists of 8 municipal corporations and 14 smaller municipal councils. The entire area is overseen by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, a Tamil Nadu State Government organisation in charge of town planning, development, transportation and housing in the region. The CMDA was formed to address the challenges in planning and development of integrated infrastructure for the metropolitan region. The areas outside Greater Chennai Corporation like Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur have lacked organised development.
The CMA comprises the city of Chennai, 8 Municipalities, 11 Town Panchayats and 179 Village Panchayats in 10 Panchayat Unions. The CMA has an area of 1,189 km2. It includes the whole of the Chennai District, along with the Ambattur, Gummidipoondi, Madhavaram, Ponneri, Poonamallee, Avadi and Tiruvallur taluks of the Tiruvallur District, Sriperumbudur and Kundrathur taluks of the Kancheepuram District, Pallavaram, Vandalur and Tambaram taluks of the Chengalpattu district.
The CMA falls in three Districts of the Tamil Nadu State viz. Chennai District, part of Thiruvallur District, and part of Kancheepuram District. The extent of the Chennai District is 426 km2 and comprises 55 revenue villages in 10 Taluks viz. [Tondiarpet Taluk, Perambur Taluk, Purasawalkam Taluk, Egmore Taluk, Mambalam Taluk, Guindy Taluk, Mylapore Taluk, Velachery Taluk, Aminjikarai Taluk and Ayanavaram Taluk. In Thiruvallur District out of total district area of 3427 km2, 637 km2. in Ambattur, Thiruvallur, Ponneri and Poonamallee taluks fall in CMA. In Kancheepuram District out of 4433 km2, 376 km2 in Tambaram, Sriperumbudur and Chengalpattu district fall in the metropolitan area.
CMA region has about 3,000 water bodies, most of which have been encroached upon by real estate dealers and small communities.
The Chennai metropolitan area is set to be expanded further, incorporating the entire districts of Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, and the Arakkonam taluk, Nemili Taluk of the Ranipet district. In future it may expand further. Plans to expand Chennai Metropolitan Area seven folds from existing 1,189 square kilometers to 8,878 appears to be scaled down in view of opposition from the farmer in giving up their agricultural lands. The Government is looking at maximum utilization of the available spaces in the core city and urbanized pockets in the suburbs for residential development. Only area well connected with the available rail infrastructure will be included in the expansion plan of CMA. The extent of expansion will be scaled down from 8,878 square kilometer to 3,000–4,000 square kilometers.

Nodal agencies

SnAgencyResponsibility
1Greater Chennai Corporation, Avadi Municipal Corporation, Municipalities and PanchayatsCivic management in their area of jurisdiction
2Tamil Nadu Housing Boardprovision of plots and ready built houses, Sites and Services schemes
3Metropolitan Transport CorporationBus Transport
4Southern RailwayChennai suburban railway and Chennai MRTS
5Chennai City Traffic PoliceTraffic Management Schemes
6Tamil Nadu Electricity BoardElectricity generation and supply
7Public Works DepartmentImplementation & Maintenance of macro drainage system
8Chennai Metropolitan Development AuthorityUrban planning, coordination of project implementation
9Chennai MetroWater Supply and Sewage BoardWater Supply & Sewerage facilities for CMA
10Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance BoardProvision of housing, infrastructure and livelihood programs in slum areas
11Aavin Co-operative societyProviding Milk through co-operative society to the people of Chennai
12CMRLMetro rail transport department

Municipal corporations

  1. Avadi Municipal Corporation
  2. Greater Chennai Corporation

    Municipalities

  3. Poonamallee
  4. Thiruverkadu
  5. Pallavaram
  6. Tambaram
  7. Pammal
  8. Anakaputhur
  9. Sembakkam

    Districts

  10. Chennai district
  11. Kanchipuram district
  12. Tiruvallur district
  13. Chengalpattu district

    Taluks

from Chennai district
  1. Alandur
  2. Ambattur
  3. Aminjikarai
  4. Ayanavaram
  5. Egmore
  6. Guindy
  7. Madhavaram
  8. Maduravoyal
  9. Mambalam
  10. Mylapore
  11. Perambur
  12. Purasawalkam
  13. Sholinganallur
  14. Thiruvottiyur
  15. Tondiarpet
  16. Velachery
from Tiruvallur district
  1. Poonamallee
  2. Ponneri
  3. Tiruvallur
  4. Avadi
from Kanchipuram district
  1. Sriperumbudur
  2. Kundrathur
from Chengalpattu district
  1. Pallavaram
  2. Tambaram
  3. Vandalur

    New District demand

People of northern and eastern Tiruvallur district demanding for a new district headquartered in Red Hills by bifurcating the large Tiruvallur district. Those people consider Red Hills as a gateway of these regions. Where regions like Gummidipoondi, Ponneri, Pazhaverkadu depend on Red Hills rather than current district headquarters Tiruvallur. The two possibilities of creating Red Hills district by bifurcating Tiruvallur district:
  1. Entire region of Ponneri, Gummidipoondi, Avadi, Poonamallee taluks and parts of Uthukkottai taluk.
  2. Entire region of Ponneri, Gummidipoondi and Uthukkottai taluks.
People demand new district by considering the below facts:
The CMDA regulates developments in the Chennai metropolitan area through the issuance of planning permission under section 49 of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act 1971.
The first plans to expand the CMA were proposed by the CMDA in 2011. The need for expansion arose as several nearby settlements such as Sriperumbudur, Kelambakkam, Tiruvallur and Maraimalai Nagar had been undergoing rapid development and had to be incorporated under the CMDA planning strategy. Also, the planning bodies of other metropolises in India such as Bengaluru, New Delhi and Hyderabad had already redefined their respective metropolitan regions to include much larger areas and corresponding regional planning was being done. The CMA, however, has not been altered since it was first defined in 1974. The area was limited to which is among the smallest in the country.
In July 2012, the CMDA suggested two options to the Government of Tamil Nadu for expanding the area:
Chief planners of the CMDA have suggested that the second option is more feasible. Another planning model, similar to the National Capital Region was also examined by the CMDA. In order to plan for balanced regional development, developing a larger road network, implementing an integrated transport plan and identifying a Chennai Mega Region have become necessary.
On 3 July 2017 the Government of Tamil Nadu's minister for housing and urban development, Udumalai K. Radhakrishnan announced its intention to expand the CMA to. The extension will cover all of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts and Arakkonam taluk of Vellore district, as proposed in July 2012. Having completed a feasibility study, a "strategic regional plan" was now required, and completion of the whole process was expected by July 2018.
On 22 January 2018 the Government of Tamil Nadu issued order G.O. No.13 to "declare the intention to include additional areas in the Chennai Metropolitan Planning Area" under section 2, clause of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971. The additional areas to be included were as proposed by the CMDA in 2017. Under Tamil Nadu Act 35 the Tamil Nadu government is required to allow reasonable opportunity for inhabitants, local authorities and institutions in the area to comment upon or object to such an expansion proposals.
Although less than 100 objections to the expansion plans were received, a public interest litigation action was launched at the Madras High Court in March 2018.