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Urban Encroachment

Land acquisition for city’s key projects likely to see end soon

Friday, 01 March 2013 11:28 administrator
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The Hindu                01.03.2013

Land acquisition for city’s key projects likely to see end soon

Ray of hopeHurdles to key traffic and transportation projects likely to be cleared—Photo: M. Srinath
Ray of hopeHurdles to key traffic and transportation projects likely to be cleared—Photo: M. Srinath.

Land acquisition for the Puzhuthivakkam MRTS station has reached the final stages with an “award passed for acquisition of 8,462 sq. m. of land.”

The information was shared with officials of the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (Cumta), the Chennai Corporation and other agencies at a meeting organised at the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) on Wednesday.

With Cumta stressing the need for a well chalked-out strategy to speed up traffic and transportation projects, the CMDA is planning to take measures to cope with legal proceedings and quicken land acquisition.

The legal proceedings have delayed the acquisition and alienation of over 6,550 sq. m. along the stand-alone rail alignment and 3,038 sq. m. near the Adambakkam Station. This is expected to delay the commissioning of a major transit hub in St. Thomas Mount.

The work on the incomplete portions of the 5-km stretch between Velachery and St. Thomas Mount is not expected to resume as planned earlier. Though land acquisition resumed last year, residents continued to protest because of the change in the original alignment. The CMDA will be able to hand over the land to the Railways only after the land acquisition is completed and the award is passed.

Land acquisition for the proposed logistics park to be set up in 117.25 acres of land in Karunakaracheri and Annambedu and the second phase of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) also figured prominently in the discussions on Wednesday. Land acquisition is expected to begin once the State government sanction is received.

“Only 19 hectares of land remains to be acquired for the second phase of the ORR. The remaining land has been acquired,” said an official associated with land acquisition.

The second phase of the ORR, which starts at Nemilicheri, crosses the Chennai-Bangalore railway line and the Chennai Tiruvallur High Road. The road passes through villages, including Mittanamallee, Morai, Attanthangal, Padiyanallur, Kandigai. The work will gain momentum after the CMDA hands over the 19 hectares to TNRDC. The ORR will connect Vandalur on NH45 in the south with Minjur on the Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panchetti Road north of Chennai.

Cumta will come up with more proposals including para-transit (feeder services between different transport networks), Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) and common ticketing if land acquisition hurdles to key traffic and transportation projects are cleared.

Last Updated on Friday, 01 March 2013 11:31
 

Civic body orders removal of shops near war memorial

Thursday, 28 February 2013 12:00 administrator
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The Times of India                28.02.2013

Civic body orders removal of shops near war memorial

TRICHY: The Trichy corporation in a special meeting held on Wednesday ordered to remove five of the 25 shopping lots that served as an obstruction to the first World War memorial at the crowded Gandhi market area in the city. As many as 41 men from Trichy gave their lives for the country during the first World War between 1914 and 1919 and the memorial is believed to have been built in the early 1930s. It was completely encroached on all its sides by retail outlets and the corporation in the past had allegedly turned a blind eye to the memorial.

On January 24, TOI published a story highlighting how the war memorial had been vilified by a cluster of stalls. Many residents had forgotten the structure since it was almost lost in the thickness of the busy Gandhi market area. The issue was first brought to light by a brigadier during the gold jubilee celebrations of the territorial army on October 9, 2009. Later on, it was taken by the Ex-Servicemen's Welfare Association, which wrote a letter to the district collector Jayashree Muralidharan requesting her to ensure that the memorial was respected and the encroachments removed.

Since it concerned the jurisdiction of the city corporation, the collector wrote to the civic body, but even then things did not move in the right direction. An official from the Trichy corporation even went to the extent of saying that since the war memorial had been built prior to 1994 when Trichy became a corporation, it did not concern it directly. When the issue was brought to the notice of the incumbent corporation commissioner V P Dhandapani, he assured that he would do the needful.

The commissioner admitted that the place was not maintained during the last decade and said, "the honour of the men who laid their lives for the country is important than the rent collected from the five shops." Dhandapani further said on Wednesday that he would not do the mistake of evicting the five persons abruptly but serve them three months notice. "When you remove them abruptly, they go to the court and there is every likelihood that they might get a ruling in their favour. As such, I am going by the rule book and will remove them accordingly," he said.
Last Updated on Thursday, 28 February 2013 12:02
 

Officials clear encroachments

Thursday, 28 February 2013 06:36 administrator
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The Hindu                    28.02.2013

Officials clear encroachments

Municipal officials cleared encroachments near the Sandaipettai on Wednesday. The drive was taken up to clear the supply channel in the area. The one-hour operation was executed in coordination with police officials.

Last Updated on Thursday, 28 February 2013 06:38
 
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