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Sengundram Red Hills | |
|---|---|
Neighbourhood | |
| Nickname: "North Door Of Chennai" | |
  Sengundram Red Hills (Chennai) Show map of Chennai Sengundram Sengundram (Tamil Nadu) Show map of Tamil Nadu Sengundram Sengundram (India) Show map of India | |
| Coordinates:13°11′11″N80°12′00″E / 13.186500°N 80.199900°E /13.186500; 80.199900 | |
| Country |  India |
| State |  Tamil Nadu |
| District | Tiruvallur |
| Metro | Chennai |
| Elevation | 33 m (108 ft) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Tamil |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 600052 |
| Telephone code | 044 |
| Vehicle registration | TN-18 |
| Planning agency | CMDA |
| City | Chennai |
| Tamil Nadu Assembly constituency | Madhavaram |
Sengundram, known inEnglish asRed Hills, is a suburb in the northwestern part ofChennai,Tamil Nadu,India inThiruvallur District.
The first railway proposals for India were made inMadras in 1832. The country's first transport train,Red Hill Railway (built byArthur Cotton to transport granite for road-building), ran from Red Hills to theChintadripet bridge in Madras in 1836-1837.[1] A town named Sholavaram has a unused airstrip build by British forWorld War II. It was originally operated by the Royal Air Force as an airbase during World War II. After the war, it was abandoned until the airstrip was turned into a venue for drag racing. Most notably, the Malayalam actorJayan was killed in a helicopter accident here during the shooting of his filmKolilakkam on 16 November 1980.
After the Madras Motor Sports Club was formed in mid-1950s, Sholavaram was selected to conduct its racing events. According to some estimates, entries across all the various categories of motorcycles and cars together numbered over 800. The state government would ply buses ferrying fans, who travelled from all over India, to and from the track. There was even a thriving black market for forged tickets. Participants included Vijay Mallya's Formula One Ensign or Chandhok's Formula 2 Chevron B42. Since then racing events took place every year and continued till late 1980s until the Madras Motor Sports Club built a new track at Irungattukottai, Sriperumbudur, Chennai.
The Indian Army later recovered the lands, which had been illegally occupied by local residents. The military used the area and the remaining airstrip as a surveillance base. There were also plans to use the airport as a secondary landing location for commercial aircraft.
In 2020 the airstrip was taken over by the Government of India, with plans to construct a new airport under the UDAN scheme.
Iyyappan temple in Red Hills is an important Hindu temple in the neighbourhood. TheChurch of South India church opposite the Iyyappan temple is one of the larger churches in the surrounding area, and the Aysha mosque is also near the temple. Vishalayam special needs school is the only special school at Red Hills. There are also two government schools, one for boys and one for girls, besides a government boys higher secondary school at Vadagarai.
Puzhal aeri, or Puzhal lake, also known as the Red Hills Lake, is located inPonneri taluk ofTiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu. It is one of the two rain-fed reservoirs from where water is drawn for supply to Chennai City, the other one being theChembarambakkam Lake andPorur Lake. The full capacity of the lake is 3,300 million ft3 (93 million m3).
A Red Hills bus stand has buses to various parts of Chennai. It is easy to get connected to CMBT, Broadway, Poonamalle, Avadi, Tiruninravur, Tambaram and Vandaloor Zoo through bus from Red Hills. Many mofussil buses also pass through Red Hills.
In Phase II of metro Rail, three lines covering a distance of 63 kilometres have been proposed in the second phase of the network. Line 4 is envisioned to be a 22-kilometre route with 8 stations from Moolakadai to Thirumangalam Junction. Stations are planned at: Moolakadai, Vinayagapuram/Teachers Colony, Surapet, Red Hills, Vadakarrai, Ambattur OT, Maduravoyil Junction, MMM Hospital and Thirumangalam Junction
