CHENNAI:
Even in the bizarre world of bureaucracy, this is unusual. The Chennai
Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), the agency that helps plan
and guide the development of the metropolis, does not have the patta for
most of its key projects, documents available with Express show.

Worse still, it does not have the patta even for the land where its headquarters are situated.

According
to information available with this newspaper, the list of
infrastructure projects that the agency undertook over the years,
without mandatory pattas, include important ones like Koyambedu
Wholesale Market, Manali New Town, Maraimalai Nagar New Town Project and
even the newly-constructed Madhavaram Bus and Truck Terminal. All these
were private lands that were acquired for the projects.

In
all, the authority implemented projects in 837 acres of private land
without obtaining the necessary pattas, the documents reveal.

Records
show that of the 296 acres acquired for Koyambedu market, 125.29 acres
is private land for which the patta is yet to be obtained in CMDA’s
favour.

Similarly, the new bus
terminus project is being implemented at Madhavaram without obtaining
the patta for nearly half of the land acquired for the project.

A
total of 80.19 acres has been acquired for the bus and truck terminal
project, but the patta for 46 acres is yet to be transferred in favour
of CMDA, documents reveal.

CMDA’s
trouble is worse at the Maraimalai Nagar New Town project that was
conceived over four decades ago. The land that was acquired in 1974 to
develop a satellite town outside the city to regulate population growth
as suggested by the First Master Plan, has hardly put to use.

Of
the 2,371 acres acquired for the project, the patta for 376 acres of
private land is yet to be transferred to CMDA’s name. Similarly, the
patta for 583 acres of government land, too, is yet to be transferred to
the authority. As the project stayed in limbo, the land was encroached
upon, and previous landowners managed to get a favourable order to
denotify the land from acquisition as it was not put to use.

Even
the Manali New Town project is stuck. The patta for 291 acres of
private land is yet to be transferred, while the pattas for five land
records have gone missing. The State housing board had acquired 291.91
acres of land from private land owners through 18 awardings, which have
gone missing.