VELACHERY

'Velachery' also known as 'Vedashreni' is a fast developing residential area in the South West Chennai, a metropolitan city in India.

Contents

Geography and Location

History

Temples

Velachery Railway station

Velachery - Rain and Flood Management

Infrastructure and Environmental Concerns

Economy

Places to Eat

Places to Shop

External links

Geography and Location

Velachery is geographically surrounded by IIT Madras in the north-east, Taramani in the east, Adambakkam in the northwest. Most of the lands are 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 most posh areas in velachery are Seethapathy Nagar, Dhandeeswaram and Vijaya Nagar. Some other areas are Ramagiri Nagar, Baby Nagar, Seshadripuram, 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.
There are three arterial roads namely Velacheri Main Road, Tharamani Link Road, and Velacheri Bypass Road. The last two roads are planned to be 100 Ft Roads including the encroachments on sides seen today.
Neighbouring areas of Velachery include Guindy, Taramani, Adyar and Thiruvanmiyur.
This part of the city was considered to be backwards couple of years back, but now things have changed rapidly after a string of key residential projects, one of the pioneers in this being 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 the airport and the fast development of the main roads are a definite plus, with commuting time to the heart of the city cut down very rapidly.
It has mostly hard rock areas, 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 when we move further south from velachery. The area is called Pallikaranai and it is also nowadays becoming built up.

History

Velachery area also has a historical spot. It is the Dhandeeswaram Koil, which has inscriptions believed to be made by a great king from the mighty Chola Dynasty in the 11th century. Velachery is called as Vedashreni (Abode of Vedas) during the Chola period. This information is available in many of the tablets in Dhandesswaram temple.

Temples

In the recent years quite a few 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.

Velachery Railway station

This project started back about 4-5 years and due to several reasons the progress was slowed down. On April 2007, it was announced that the service is planned to commence from May 2007 onwards.

Velachery - Rain and Flood Management

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, madipakkam road and bridge. A flood water drainage canal was constructed along the Velachery 100-feet road. Due to encroachment and 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 major extent, the flooding problem in many areas along the 100-feet road has decreased substantially.

Infrastructure and Environmental Concerns

A major concern now is that with all these rapid developments which is good in a sense, has also resulted in a few drawbacks, such as water scarcity, congestion of roads with unimaginable traffic, and not the least the damage to the marshland. It is feared that in a few years unless something concrete is done, the marshlands would all be converted into residential and commercial properties.

Economy

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

Places to Eat

Velachery now boasts of lot of places to eat. There are many hotels / restaurants that serve you a variety of cusisines.


For a quick bite:
Ratna Cafe, Velachery Byepass Road, Near Reliane Fresh, Metro Water station


For Pizza Lovers:
Pizza Corner, Velachery Byepass Road, Near Indian Bank


The regulars:
Karaikudi, Taramani Road, Near Sekhar Stores - Yes it belongs to the same chain that has a restaurant in RK Salai
The Dhaba, Taramani Road, Near Sekhar Stores
Wangs Kitchen, Taramani Road

Places to Shop

Clothes & Accessories


Taramani Road - Naidu Hall


Velachery Byepass Road - Reebok, Nike, Addidas, Woodland,


Electronics


Taramani Road - Sony World


Velachery Byepass Road - The Mobile Store

External links

★ Velachery.com

★ TAEnclave - Velachery Apartment Complex

★ 'Jyotsna'

★ 'All About Velacheri'