2,865 families will have to give up their homes, shops for metro-2

CHENNAI : As soil test for the city metro’s 118.9km phase-2 project is under way in several localities for construction to begin by 2019-end, CMRL has decided to permanently acquire nearly300 acres of government and private land and property amounting to another 100 acres of built-up area to build the three-corridor network.

Private owners will have to give up 66.9 acres of land and 97.1 acres of floor space area of built up structures. To buy all the land and property it needs, CMRL will spend nearly Rs 10,000 crores, i.e 15% of the total project cost.

Recently, residents of TTK Road, Luz Church Road and Kutchery Road organised a meeting to discuss how work on the metro rail network would displace many. “Why does CMRL want to build a network in an area that will affect the locals more than it would benefit them,” asked E Murali, one of the residents, at the meeting. Property owners T Nagar, West

Mambalam

, Purasaiwalkam,

Alwarpet

,

Mylapore

and Mandaveli have protested at the consultation meetings organised by the local authorities

According to CMRL’s assessment, as many as 2,865 families with 9,455 people will be either partially or fully affected by the project. Of them, 164 families will lose their homes while 777 families will lose their shops and livelihood.

Both lines that link Madhavaram with Siruseri SIPCOT and Sholinganallur via the city’s eastern and western fringes would take up much of the private land.

A total of 97 families would lose their homes and 279 that would lose their shops and commercial spaces in Nandanam, T Nagar,

Vadapalani

and Porur to the metro line from the Lighthouse to Poonamallee.

CMRL has issued 2,970 notices to property owners, including those along the 52km priority corridor from Madhavaram to Sholinganallur and from Madhavaram to CMBT, construction for which will be taken up later this year.

A top CMRL official said they had cut down on the private property to be acquired by 25% by making changes to the design of the stations and converting a few underground stretches into elevated corridors. “There are a lot of private properties in Purasaiwalkam, Doveton and Perambur. We are working on a plan to minimise acquisition, though it may lead to higher construction costs,” an official said.

RITES, an engineering consultancy enterprise of the Government of India, prepared the detailed project report. Property owners and other occupants, including tenants, will be compensated under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.