Chennai: After 36 years of court hall battle, the Kancheepuram revenue administration on Thursday succeeded in taking possession of 86 acres of prime land worth over Rs 1000 crore from a private company on the GST Road at suburban Vandalur.
The good news is that the state, which dropped the integrated bus terminus project in the area for want of land, is now considering this acquired land for the prestigious project aimed at decongesting Chennai and its southern suburbs, sources in the Kancheepuram collectorate told DC.
Armed with a Madras High Court order of last month, Chengalpet revenue divisional officer S. Panneerselvam initiated the land takeover process on Wednesday and by the following morning, his staff had got framed boards planted at several spots in the 86-acre area cautioning people that the land belonged to the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority.
“This is a major retrieval of land and we thank the high court for intervening. The land had been purchased by the VGP group in violation of the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling of Land) Act 1961. We lost the case in the Chengalpet munsiff court in 2004 and moved an appeal before the high court, where we have now got the relief”, Panneerselvam told DC.
According to CMDA sources, the government may use the acquired land to launch its bus terminus project, which needs about 60 acres. Meanwhile, local residents and businessmen in the region are happy with this development.
“This would be the best location for putting up the mufasil bus stand as that would decongest the GST Road and ease the flow of traffic coming into Chennai as well as moving out of the city”, said Mr S. Perumal, a realtor at Guduvanchery.
“The traffic is pathetic along the GST road near Vandalur as long distance buses do not have a parking bay in the area. If this is done, our road will get decongested”, said M Sekar, a staff at the Vandalur zoo.
