Velachery

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?Velachery Chennai • Tamil Nadu • India
Velachery
Coordinates: 12°58′33″N 80°13′14″E / 12.9758, 80.2205
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
District(s)	Chennai
Parliamentary constituency	Chennai South
Assembly constituency	Velachery
Zone	Adyar
Ward	153

Coordinates: 12°58′33″N 80°13′14″E / 12.9758, 80.2205 Velachery, also known as Vedashreni, is a fast-developing residential area in South West Chennai, a metropolitan city in Tamil Nadu, India.

1 Location
2 Geography
3 Infrastructure and environmental concerns
4 Economy
5 Velachery Railway Station
6 Temples
7 External links

[edit] Location

Velachery is surrounded by IIT Madras in the north-east, Taramani in the east and Adambakkam in the northwest; other neighbouring areas include Guindy, Adyar and Thiruvanmiyur. Most of the neighbourhood is populated with houses. As more and more IT parks are emerging on the Old Mahabalipuram road, IT & working-class people are settling in Velachery.

The highest socio-economic areas in Velachery are Seethapathy Nagar, Dhandeeswaram, and Vijaya Nagar. Some other areas are Ramagiri Nagar, Baby Nagar, Seshadripuram, Sri Devi Karumari Amman Nagar, Annai Indira Nagar, Anna Nagar, Tansi Nagar, Sarathy Nagar, Udhayam Nagar, AG's colony, Ram Nagar, Devi Karumariamman Nagar, Gangai Nagar, Venkateshwara Nagar and Velachery TNHB, Jaganatha Purum and Raja Lakshmi Nagar.

There are three arterial roads: Velacheri Main Road, Tharamani Link Road, and Velacheri Bypass Road. The last two roads are planned to be 100-feet roads including the encroachments on sides seen today.

This part of Chennai was considered to be socio-economically backwards couple of years ago, but the area has changed rapidly after a string of key residential projects. One of the pioneers in this revival has been the development of Regal Palm Gardens near the Velachery bus terminus. The success of this apartment was so profound that the realty prices have shot up in this region, and currently it is one of the most sought after residential areas in the city. The proximity to Chennai Airport and the fast development of the main roads are a definite attraction, with commuting time to the heart of the city cut down significantly.

[edit] Geography

Velachery has mostly areas of hard rock, and a big marshland in the southern region of the area. It is said that this marshland was once a natural bird sanctuary. But nowadays, due to encroachment and rapid real estate development, the sanctuary has disappeared. Even today there is a big marshland south of Velachery. The area is called Pallikaranai, and it is also developing rapidly.

[edit] Infrastructure and environmental concerns

A major concern that the recent rapid developments has also resulted in a few drawbacks, such as water scarcity, congestion of roads and the damage to the marshland. It is feared that in a few years unless something substantial is done, the marshlands would all be converted into residential and commercial properties.

Every November, Velachery is flooded by cyclonic rains. The major areas that were usually flooded are the low-lying areas near Velachery Lake, Ram Nagar extension and the Madipakkam Road and bridge. A flood water drainage canal was constructed along the Velachery 100-feet road. Due to encroachment and other unknown problems, some part of the canal in the Velachery-Tambaram high road is not constructed completely. Generally it is felt that, after the canal was built to a major extent, the flooding problem in many areas along the 100-feet road has decreased substantially.

[edit] Economy

Several IT/ITES companies have set up their offices in Velachery. Some major ones include Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) ^[1], AdventNet, AllSec, Sutherland ^[2] and Cognizant Technology Solutions.

[edit] Velachery Railway Station

The second phase of the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) between Tirumailai and Velachery declared open for passenger traffic by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi here on November 19.

The first phase covering 8.66 km distance between Chennai Beach and Tirumailai was completed at the cost of Rs 269 crore, which was fully met by the railways with the State Government giving land free of cost.

However, for the second phase of 10.8 km, both the State Government and the railways shared the cost in a 2:1 ratio.

Earlier the cost of the second phase was worked out to Rs. 777 crore, which increased substantially following a delay in the implementation of the project.

In the second phase between Tirumailai and Velachery, there are eight stations: Mandaiveli, Greenways Road, Kotturpuram, Kasturba Nagar, Indira Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur, Taramani and Perungudi.

The project would have been completed two years ago but for a technical problem, which almost threatened the project. The railways' original plan was to have an elevated track from Tirumailai to Taramani and surface line from there to Velachery. But as the soil was soft in around Taramani and Perungudi, the railways had to go for the elevated track right up to Velachery, which took two more years for the project to complete ^[3].

[edit] Temples

The Dhandeeswaram Temple in Velachery is a historical site of note, which has inscriptions believed to be made by a great king from the Chola Dynasty in the 11th century. Velachery was known as Vedashreni (meaning "Abode of Vedas") during the Chola period. This information is available in many of the tablets in Dhandesswaram temple.

Dhandeeswaram Temple:- Story of the temple, Dhandam refers to the weapon used by the lord Yamah. When Lord Yamah, threw the rope on Markandeyah to take his life, Markendeyah held on to a shivalingam (Lord Shiva). So the rope actually fell on Lord Shiva himself, which angered the God and He destroyed the weapon (Dhandam). Later on, Lord Yamah, did penance and got back his Dhandam, from the tank(Kulam) in the Dhandeeswaram Temple. As the "Dhandam" was given back by Lord Shiva, He is called as "Dhandeeswarar".

In the recent years quite a few other temples have come up in the vicinity. Some of the popular temples apart from Dhandesswaram temple are the "SIVA VISHNU Temple" located in Vijaya Nagar and temple of Lord Sri Yoga Narasimha Swami ^[4].