Roadblock for completion of MRTS project in Chennai cleared, passengers to benefit
Posted on: 02/Jan/2019 10:32:03 AM
For the past 8 years there was barrier present for the completion of final 500m of Velachery- St Thomas Mount extension of MRTS or Mass Rapid Transit System is known. It is now brought out that the Madras High Court has cleared this and has dismissed the batch of pleas challenging the acquisition of private land. The important point is this 5 km project would provide a link to the suburban services and metro rail trains to the commuters of Chennai. The information collected was about 98% work covering a distance of 4.5 km has been completed and work for another 0.5 km has to be done now. The above mentioned pending work involves acquisition of private lands.
In the year 2010 the state government grabbed many eyeballs when it issued an order in connection with the project. From 2010 till now number of pleas has been moved challenging the acquisition process. High Court has been dismissing the pleas and issuing directions to the authorities to follow the procedure under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013.
The authorities did not follow the due process of law is known. This has resulted in a series of litigation including the current batch of pleas. According to the Justice Seshasayee, there is on display an utter lack of professionalism in ignoring the critical factor that directly affects the responsibility namely the commencement of the right to fair compensation act. He spoke about the wrong issuing of notices under the old act despite of the court’s direction to issue notices under the right to fair compensation act 2014. He also mentioned about the annual cost escalation of about 5% to 6% for every year’s delay in finishing the project. The Justice finally spoke about the inadequacy of the compensation awarded at present and said the petitioners are free to pursue the remedy available to them under the act.
