MRTS extension from Adambakkam to St Thomas Mount: Better package for land owners?

CHENNAI: In a bid to break the deadlock over land acquisition of the 500-metre stretch of the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) from Adambakkam to St Thomas Mount station, the High Court-constituted negotiation committee has come out with an enhanced package to woo the landowners.

According to official sources, the committee has recommended that the land owners contesting the land acquisition for completing the phase-II extension of the MRTS project be paid additional Rs 3,330 per square foot. The compensation to be paid to the land owners was arrived at by obtaining the sales statistics from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018.

This would mean that the land owners will now be getting a compensation of more than Rs 8,400 than the earlier promised compensation of Rs 5,000. A Madhivannan, whose one ground land will be acquired by the MRTS, told Express that the landowners were called for a meeting to discuss the compensation on November 26. “We hope it is a fair one,” he said. Inadequate compensation has been the grouse of the landowners as MRTS struggled to acquire the 500 metres of land to complete the project. The row over compensation has doubled the originally announced cost of the project.

Railway sources said the five-km stretch for phase-II extension of the MRTS was sanctioned at a cost of Rs 495.75 crore. But now the cost has shot up to Rs 919 crore due to recurring delays over litigation pertaining to land acquisition. It is learnt that the state issued the Government Order on February 11, 2011 to acquire land under Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for laying of railway line between Velachery and St Thomas Mount under the phase-II extension project.

Madhivannan said the government could have paid the desired compensation earlier rather than getting entangled in the issue which has raised the cost of project. Although pained at losing his home which was built in his childhood by his father, he recalled that now he cannot get back such a house. “It had all sweet memories and now they will have to be buried. With the money I can’t get such a house,” he rued. Madhivannan, who has moved to a new abode in Madipakkam, said now the area where his house was acquired would become a super-speciality area with the coming up of the project. “I won’t be able to enjoy the fruits,” he said.

“Initially, the previous compensation of Rs 5,092 was opposed by us as the government did not take the market value of the land when acquired in 2014. The land value per square foot, as on February 2016, was Rs 1,912 with a 100 per cent solatium of Rs 1,912. They also gave additional market value for three years which worked out to Rs 5,092,” said another landowner.

Official sources said that the negotiation committee had fixed the land value at market rate of more than Rs 3,700 and raised market value by more than 200 pc. “This could work out a compensation of more than Rs 8,000 for land owners,” sources said. The compensation has been enhanced, taking into account the sales statistics from October 1, 2017 to September 2018 in the 400-metre radius of the nearest vicinity area. It is learnt that six landowners will benefit from the raised compensation.

Benefit for Chennai

• The extension up to St Thomas Mount will benefit several people including those working in IT establishments near to the MRTS network 

• People from neighbourhoods along the Beach-Tambaram-Chengalpattu line could easily reach the IT corridor

• The patronage of MRTS network is expected to raise significantly with this extension because St. Thomas Mount station would be a junction of three different railway networks

• This would facilitate integration of Metro and MRTS at Alandur and linking them with suburban corridors