Chitlapakkam is a residential locality located in Chennai Metropolitan Area governed by the Tambaram City Municipal Corporation.

[2] The neighbourhood is served by Tambaram Sanatorium railway station, which is 100 m from the locality and 200 meters from Chitlapakkam lake and govt school.

Chitlapakkam is a fast-developing part of the city, and many people from Other places have relocated there because of its green environment, water availability, proximity to OMR and to MEPZ and GST Road.

There is a government bus No 52 D which operates 2 services from the chitlapakkam pond to Parrys Corner at 11 am and also at 4 pm daily.

Attempts by local welfare associations and watchdog movements had contributed to slowing down the pace of encroachments.

[6][citation needed] Recent attempts by resident welfare associations and organizations such as Chitlapakkam Rising, has helped mandate the local panchayat to take initiatives to move the garbage dumpyard which was occupying almost 3+ acres of lake area.

Tambaram corporation as of 2021 encompasses five municipalities and five town panchayats of Perungalathur, Peerkankaranai, Madambakkam, Thiruneermalai and Chitlapakkam.

The town hit the headlines in the late 1980s and early 1990s when residents came together to successfully protect the Chitlapakkam Lake.

In 2004, when the Department of Municipal Administration and Water Supply classified Chitlapakkam town panchayat as a special village panchayat, along with many other urban local bodies in Tamil Nadu, residents here impressed the elected representatives on the need for seeking municipality status.

This has happened gradually and in a non linear and participative fashion due to the efforts of various patriotic individuals and associations of persons.

In this context the role of the civic body and its representatives need to be lauded since they do take feedback and try to implement the suggestions.

A notable association has been the Muthulakshminagar welfare association which regularly meets the concerned ministers and public representatives to take up activities specific to the upliftment of Chitlapakkam like improvement of water table, waste segregation and preventing burning of waste at the Chitlapakkam lake, making efforts to include Chitlapakkam in the Chembarapakkam water scheme, ensuring more bus routes to operate via Chitlapakkam and so on,[9] The real estate boom in the locality is due to a confluence of factors like abundant water supply, proximity to the IT companies in OMR & MEPZ, excellent quality of life and proximity to the city.

Some of the landmarks in the area include Varadharaja theatre, Chitlapakkam tank, Indira Cotton Mill, MEPZ, Saravana Stores at Chrompet and so on.

Road transport for this locality is catered by government-run MTC buses and private share autos.

BT roads in Chitlapakkam have been upgraded with the financial assistance from NABARD RDIF during the year 2009 to 2010 at the estimated cost of 1840,000.

The State government has also decided to entrust the responsibility of the facility's maintenance to Chromepet-based Shree Gayethri Trust, a voluntary organisation.

Sanitary workers of the local body dump 3 tonnes of waste generated by the town at the half-acre yard in front of the lake and set fire to it.

The remaining 5 tonnes of waste is collected from 10,030 households in the 18 wards of the local body by Green Friends of Hand-In-Hand (HIH).

[14] Chitlapakkam was the only urban local body in the region to have a liquid waste management plant to prevent sewage from entering Sembakkam lake, treat it and use it again for gardening purposes.