Kovilambakkam

Kovilambakkam is a southern suburb of Chennai, India. It is a village panchayat located in Tambaram taluk, Chengalpattu district and Sholinganallur taluk, Chennai district in the state of Tamil Nadu, about 26 km from Chennai city center and 12 km from Tambaram. The neighbourhood spans the areas of Sunnambu Kolathur (Madipakkam-B / Madipakkam-II revenue village), Chinna Kovilambakkam and Periya Kovilambakkam.

Kovilambakkam
Village Panchayat
Kovilambakkam Panchayat Office
Kovilambakkam
Coordinates: 12.9457357°N 80.2014543°E / 12.9457357; 80.2014543
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District	Chengalpattu and Chennai
Metro	Chennai_Metro
Taluk	Tambaram and Sholinganallur
Village panchayat	Kovilambakkam
President	Geetha Manimaran
Government
• Type	Panchayat
• Body	Kovilambakkam Village Panchayat
Population  (2011)
• Total	27,374
Languages
• Official	Tamil
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	600129
Telephone code	91-44
Vehicle registration	TN-14
Lok Sabha constituency	Chennai South
Legislative Assembly constituency	Sholinganallur (state assembly constituency)
Website	https://chengalpattu.nic.in/ https://chennai.nic.in/ https://www.kovilambakkam.com (Governmental)

Kovilambakkam will be part of Tambaram City Municipal Corporation but there is confusion regarding Sunnambu kolathur as its revenue village Madipakkam-B is already part of Sholinganallur Taluk in Chennai district^[1] and Madipakkam-B VAO says that Madipakkam-B is part of Zone-14 of Greater Chennai Corporation.

Governance

The neighbourhood is administered by the Kovilambakkam Village Panchayat, which is under control of St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union, Chengalpattu district. The area and population of Kovilambakkam spans two revenue villages in Tamil Nadu, namely, Koilambakkam (wards 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) which comes under Tambaram taluk in Chengalpattu district and Sunnambu Kolathur / Madipakkam-B (wards 3, 4, 5) which comes under Sholinganallur taluk in Chennai District^[1]).

Even though this is a rural area, 50% of kovilambakkam rural village panchayat (named Madipakkam-B disaster and revenue village) is under Zone-14 of Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) for Disaster and revenue purpose. So, whenever Madipakkam-B (aka Sunnambu kolathur) villagers request for flood / disaster relief like Michaung flood relief, Chennai district collector Tmt. Rashmi siddharth zagade, IAS takes the request and transfers it to Kovilambakkam rural village panchayat president through Department of Municipal Administration and Water Supply thus ensuring that the Sunnambu Kolathur villagers never receive any disaster relief from Government of Tamil Nadu

In December 2023, Cyclone Michaung caused 5.5 feet high floods in Viduthalai Nagar 2nd main road by building storm water drains to discharge water from Kovilambakkam and Sunnambu kolathur lakes to City Union Bank, Kovilambakkam branch. The storm water entered Viduthalai nagar 2nd main road instead of Narayanpuram lakes. This was 5 times the capacity of Narayanapuram lake and the outlet near A2B restaurant couldn't carry this water to marshland.

The suburb during the 2023 flood

The inundated suburb during the floods

People being rescued during the floods

Flood water entering households

Demographics

As of 2011^[update] India census,^[2] Kovilambakkam had a population of 27,374. Males constitute 13,935 of the population and females 13,439. There were 7,010 households. Kovilambakkam has an average literacy rate of 72.55%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 55.7%, and female literacy is 44.3%. In Kovilambakkam, 14% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Geography

The neighbourhood has a lake known as the Kovilambakkam lake. It is connected with the Narayanapuram lake in Pallikaranai by means of a 3.5-km-long surplus channel to drain rainwater.^[3] The canal has a carrying capacity of 12,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water.^[3] However, there are complaints of sewage being dumped into the canal by the Tambaram City Municipal Corporation^[3]

Infrastructure

Kovilambakkam is located along the Pallavaram–Thoraipakkam 200-feet Radial Road.^[4] It is also one of the areas that will be connected by the phase II network of the Chennai Metro currently under construction.^[5]

Schools and colleges

• Govt. Higher Secondary School
• DAV Co-ed School, Pallikaranai (located on Sunnambu Kolathur main road)
• A. V. G. Vidyalaya Matriculation School
• Nethaji Vidhyalayam School
• Golden School
• Pole Star Matriculation School
• Himayam Matriculation School
• Panchayat Union Primary School
• Srujana International school (formerly Srujana Montessori School)

Areas surrounding of the locality