The Hindu        21.11.2014 

Civic body to take over 1 lakh sq. m. private land, widen roads

Private land along Santhome High Road will be acquired to increase its width —Photo: M. Vedhan

The Chennai Corporation has identified 1.12 lakh sq. m.
of private land and a number of notified open spaces along 11 city
roads, for widening them.

The Corporation Council on
Thursday passed a resolution for denotification of such open spaces to
facilitate the work. The preparation of a land plan schedule for the
purpose of acquisition has been completed.

The
largest extent of private property (25,179 sq. m.) will be acquired
along 4.7 km of Arcot Road, for increasing its width to 30.5 metre. Many
parks and playgrounds in schools are also likely to be required for the
road widening projects.

Work on Santhome High Road
will improve its width to 24 metres. Private land on either side of the
1.6-km stretch — which, at present, is 18 metre wide — will be acquired.
The 3.2-km-long Sardar Patel Salai will be widened from 20 metre to
30.5 metre, after acquiring 3,286 sq. m. of private land and 18,821 sq.
m. of government land.

Vineetha Velayudhan, a
long-time resident of ‘Sardar Patel Road, hailed the plan to widen
roads, but expressed doubts on its effectiveness. “Even if the move is
to ease traffic, nothing will happen without better traffic management. I
don’t know if merely widening it is going to help.”

Transfer
of development rights is likely to be used to help land owners affected
by the project. The other roads to be widened include Nelson Manickam
Road, Strahans Road, Perambur Barracks Road, Kaliamman Koil Street,
Paper Mills Road and Sembium Red Hills Road.

Taking charge of manhole repair

The
Corporation also plans to smooth jagged edges of sewer manholes on
roads across the city. Currently, Metrowater has the responsibility of
repairing the structures after roads are laid.

However, a number of such works were delayed following re-laying of many roads, causing difficulty to motorists. 

Under
the new system, the civic body will include the cost of repair of such
manholes during the preparation of estimates for a road project. The
decision to change the system follows an audit objection raised on such
works done by the Corporation in Teynampet, Kodambakkam and Thiru-Vi-Ka
Nagar.