Madras High Court Stays Acquisition of Land for Salem-Chennai Green Expressway Project

The Madras High Court has stayed acquisition of land for the eight-lane 274-km Sale-Chennai green expressway corridor until further orders. A High Court bench, after taking up petitions filed by some landowners in the region where the expressway is coming up, ordered a stay on land acquisition by the Tamil Nadu government. The next hearing is scheduled on 11 September, Tamil website Top Tamil News reported.

The 274-km long proposed corridor starting from Salem will pass through Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Villupuram and Kanchipuram districts before winding up at Chennai. The Centre has set aside Rs 10,000 crore for executing the project. The expressway has been envisaged to provide quick access to Chennai for those coming from western districts like Erode, Namakkal, Tirupur and Coimbatore besides those from Kerala.

The petitioners alleged that those in the expressway corridor were losing their lands, wells and homes and sought the court’s intervention.

While some people are opposing the acquisition for sentimental reasons, many others are demanding higher compensation. The Central and State governments have come up with a package to compensate those losing their lands and homes, but the affected persons are yet to be fully apprised of this.

The eight-lane expressway earlier ran into a controversy when fringe elements tried to influences farmers and landowners whose lands are to be acquired.