Coimbatore: A day after the Madras high court stayed land acquisition for Avinashi Road flyover for two weeks, road safety and social activists said the affected residents could demand higher compensation for their land, but they were in no position to decide whether the flyover’s ramps were required or not.
They said the flyover would be pointless without the ramps, as 95% of the vehicles would be forced to use the road below the flyover.
While staying the land acquisition process, the high court had stated that land should be acquired in a democratic manner and not like in “banana republic”. Activists also expressed a similar view and said the land must be acquired legitimately. K Kathirmathiyon, secretary, Coimbatore Consumer Cause, said, “Considering the area, a premium price, which is well above the guideline value, should be offered for the land and payment should be made immediately.”
R Raveendran, president, Residents’ Awareness Associations’ of Coimbatore, also said there was nothing wrong with landowners negotiating the deal and demanding a higher price for their property.
What didn’t go down well with the activists is the residents’ act of “bringing in engineers” and submitting a redesigned flyover without the entry and exit ramps. “This means that commuters driving from Anna Statue to Chinniampalayam can’t use the flyover. The same would be the case of commuters from stadium to airport and from Nav India to Tirupur,” Kathirmathiyon said.
He said in the absence of the four proposed ramps, only those who were driving straight from Tirupur to RS Puram or Uppilipalayam could use the flyover.
“Such commuters will constitute only 5% of the total motorists on the stretch and the remaining 95% will be forced to use the underpass. It’s not up to the residents to decide whether ramps are required or not. And how could they decide what’s the requirement of 20 lakh to 30 lakh commuters?”
The Avinashi Route Landowners’ Association, meanwhile, questioned why they alone should part with 10ft of their land in the prime location of the city for a flyover when the state could design Trichy Road, Gandhipuram and Mettupalayam Road flyovers without any land acquisitions.