Panagal Park — Attraction in Zone 10 Kodambakkam

When the Long Lake on the western peripheral region of the old city was drained out and the area of T. Nagar was newly carved out of the existing neighborhood of Mambalam in 1923, a park was developed in the centre of the new locality intended to be a residential one. The park was named Panagal Park honouring the then Chief Minister of Madras, the Raja of Panagal.[1]

In the early days, there was a public radio inside the park to cater the visitors who gathered there to listen to music and news and stayed till the last news broadcast at 7.15 p.m.[1]

The architect of Panagal Park was Ganesh Iyer. The park covers 8 acres (3.2 hectares) and has three entry points.[2] As of 2019, the park has about 218 trees, including gulmohar, neem, peepal, almond, big-leaf mahogany, mast trees, and West Indian elms.[3] In 2008, the Chennai Corporation started renovating the park at a cost of ₹ 13 million. The renovated works included construction of children's play area and public convenience (₹ 1.182 million), beautification of the three entry points (₹ 2.281 million), development of lotus pond and sitting gallery (₹ 2.881 million), construction of walkways (₹ 4.370 million) and development of landscaped lawn (₹ 2.418 million).[4]

The renovated park was reopened on 21 February 2010. Panagal Park is a landmark to many commercial establishments and department stores. Almost all the shops offering Textiles and Jewellery are concentrated on South Usman Road and Ranganathan Street.

Several high-end retail stores surround the park, including Saravana Stores, Lalithaa Jewellery, Nalli Chinnasamy Chetti, Pothys, RMKV, and Sri Kumaran Silks.

There are two educational institutions of repute around the park apart from commercial establishments. Sri Ramakrishna Mission Higher Secondary School for Boys and Sri RKM Saradha Vidyalaya Girls Higher...

Panagal Park was once a very good Park . It's located at the heart of the Chennai City i.e. T Nagar. However, it is not being maintained properly. Corporation Officials, Caretakers or Public do not seem to be showing even the least interest for uplifting the Park sooner or later. The Jogging & Walking Track as a whole is in a dilapidated condition. The tiles are broken almost in the whole Track. The areas of garden, play ground etc are not maintained and are in dilapidated condition too. It is used as a rest house or for people to sleep. The Jogging & Walking Track most of the time is used by Public for sleeping, resting and for eating resulting in disturbance to Joggers b& Walkers. Also noticed are certain unhealthy things which cannot be narrated here. In short, the percentage of maintenance of this Park and it's satisfactory rating is only to the extent of maximum five (5), the onus being all concerned. While editing my previous assessment, I regret to find there is absolutely no improvement that took place. In fact, the situation is still worse than before. While again editing , the Park is in a dilapidated condition . It is not clean and tidy. The park is not being swept daily. I infer it is swept once in alternate days or once in three days. The Park management workers cannot be blamed. Proper supervision is missing. So, the supervisors and the contractor is responsible for lack of proper maintenance...

A place of Heaven for ladies! A warm welcome is given by a staff member in a traditional way by bowing VANAKKAM . Good gesture at the entrance. There are floor wise arrangements for Silk, designer, cotton, synthetic cotton sarees and men's collections. Neatly displayed on the Board near lift. Several staff assist the customers for selection of saree items and even they help us up to billing. In spite of heavy crowd, we feel no difficulty in our happy shopping. Prices are moderate; Once in a while some discount sale is also offered here. The other side of the experience where the Management will have to focus in T'Nagar show room are: Absence of valet car parking. It is quite surprising how, in a show room of this kind, the owners are asked to park their vehicles in a nearby street(Govind st...) and walk back to showroom to join his family! Elderly people are finding it very difficult to climb the 12 or 14 steps from road to the first level wherefrom lift is provided. At the Bill-desk itself, the bonus-point card be honoured instead of asking the customer to go down to first floor to encash the credit points. It is irritating and can be easily addressed by the system...