Chennai: More than 900 land acquisition cases pending in the high court and Supreme Court have resulted in a roadblock, affecting road expansion and bridge projects in Tamil Nadu. For a smoother ride, an exclusive legal cell is being created in the state highways department, a senior highways official said.
There are projects that have been pending for years due to legal issues and the department does not have any legal expertise of its own. The new cell will have two wings, one with lawyers to deal with legal hurdles, another with officials specialising in the land acquisition process, the official said.
According to sources, the state, with a total network of 11,594 km at its disposal, has plans to invest Rs 1,34,600 crore in the road sector over the next 10 years. But with the existing projects facing roadblocks, the legal cell will be entrusted with speeding up the acquisition process.
“The Porur flyover project and the Madras Tirupati Highway widening project have been pending for months and the slow pace of construction affects traffic flow throughout the day. With the monsoon expected next month, the situation will be worse,” said CPI(M) legislator Bhimarao of Maduravoyal.
“Several bridge works are pending and deadlines of all city projects — from flyovers to grade separators — at Villivakkam and Moolakadi have got delayed due to lack of co-ordination between the government departments,” pointed out former Chennai Mayor M. Subramanian.
