The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Land acquisition report sparks panic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 06, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Land acquisition report sparks panic

K. Manikandan

TAMBARAM : Panic gripped a few residential localities of Keelkattalai near Pallavaram following reports that the Tamil Nadu Housing Board was planning to evict unauthorised structures from about 11 acres of its land.

On Monday morning, elected representatives and personnel from the Madipakkam police range visited Ambal Nagar and Eswari Nagar, among other areas, following a request from senior TNHB officials for protection. Police said their help was sought to provide security to officials on Tuesday, when they planned to issue notices to owners of unauthorised structures as part of plans to implement the Pallavaram Neighbourhood Scheme.

Residents pointed to an order passed by the Madras High Court in October 2006 that quashed a Government Order passed by the Housing and Urban Development Department in 1991.

The GO. MS No. 1306 prepared a schedule listing the areas on 57.82 acres of land in Keelkattalai for implementing the Pallavaram Neighbourhood Scheme.

The TNHB also sent a note to Pallavaram Municipality in 2005 with a list of survey numbers in Keelkattalai, urging officials not to issue planning permits there.

Members of civic groups in Keelkattalai said the TNHB prepared the scheme in 1991 when there were only barren farmlands. However, hundreds of houses with due approval were built in the area.

The Government should havestopped issuing building permits or gone ahead with the scheme immediately, they said. ``Reviving a scheme after 15 years is unjust ,'' said R. Seshadri, president of Thenmozhi Nagar Residents Welfare Association of Keelkattalai. Officials said they were only initiating a process to issue notices to occupants of some unauthorised structures on TNHB land.

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