The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Kuthambakkam panchayat residents up in arms against Housing Board

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 20, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Kuthambakkam panchayat residents up in arms against Housing Board

J. Malarvizhi

Oppose bid to acquire 2000 acres of one of State's most fertile regions

Photo: R. Ragu

Land in Kuthambakkam which the Housing Board is trying to acquire for a satellite town project.

CHENNAI: Residents of Kuthambakkam panchayat in Thiruvallur are up in arms against Tamil Nadu Housing Board's attempts to acquire 2000 acres of one of the State's most fertile regions.

Parts of Vellavedu, Thirumazhisai, Parvatharajapuram, Narasingapuram and Kuthambakkam are to be acquired by the Housing board to build a `satellite town.' An estimated 1000 families would be affected, said residents.

Land here was so fertile that farmers had to pay tax even if the land was not under cultivation, landowners in Kuthambakkam said. They could cultivate up to three crops per year on their land that yielded around 30 sacks of paddy per acre annually, they said.

The high water table has even attracted Coca Cola to the region. The bottling plant in the adjoining Nemam panchayat is reported to be drawing several thousand litres of groundwater daily. The recent rains have kept the water table high in these low-lying wetlands. "The land is flood prone and water was as high as ten feet during the recent rains," said residents. Water from the Adyar flowed across the region to reach the Chembarambakkam reservoir. Water could still be found even at three feet, they said.

Around half the residents of the village are Dalits. About a fifth of them are landowners and the rest landless labourers. The area has seen migrants from places like Salem and Erode but there were very few instances of people migrating out of the area, claimed farmers. They said the fertility of the region was comparable to Thanjavur.

The Housing Board has already given notifications for the first phase to land and house owners. While the rich landowners have taken the issue to court and obtained stay orders, those with holdings smaller than two acres do not resort to the legal route easily. Tahsildars would take notifications to people within an area of 25 acres, said R. Elango, panchayat president. Only the District Revenue Officer was empowered to negotiate land, he said.

The people who would be affected were never called nor the purpose of acquisition announced, said residents.

Women from several self-help groups in the area said they planned to hold protests soon.

The land was being acquired for about Rs. 1030 per cent. After development it could be sold for up to a lakh, said Mr. Elango. The Land Acquisition Act forbids the acquiring of wetlands, he said.

Land that had already been acquired next to the Panchayat was being dug up and the sand being sold, alleged residents.

The plans for creation of a satellite town were set in motion less than a decade ago.

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