The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Land grabbers usurp community hall site

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 20, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Land grabbers usurp community hall site

V. Venkatasubramanian

Inordinate delay in ‘execution’ of the proposal is major factor

Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan

Land in trouble: The site earmarked for constructing a community hall near Nandivaram in Guduvancheri . —

KANCHEEPURAM: Land grabbers were said to have laid their hands on the government land abutting the GST Road in Nandivaram-Guduvancheri town panchayat, owing to the inordinate delay in ‘execution’ of the community hall proposal mooted long ago.

Enquiries reveal that more than two acres of land, abutting the National Highways, was earmarked for construction of the hall in early 1960s when the site remained in the erstwhile Nandivaram panchayat. Another proposal on a public health centre was also mooted. While the health centre project was completed, the hall project did not materialise.

Meanwhile, a portion of the site earmarked for the community hall was acquired by the National Highways Department for road expansion and the remaining portion was ‘sold’ by some persons who claimed ownership rights with ‘forged documents’.

Nandivaram-Guduvancheri Town Panchayat chairman M. K. Dhandapani said litigations were filed against the encroachers or land grabbers during his previous tenure as chairman (prior to 2001) and the same were withdrawn by the elected council in the 2001-06 period. However, district-level senior revenue officials have given instructions in writing to the officials concerned that the land came under the ‘punjai tharisu’ category and hence should not be registered in third party name. But Mr. Dhandapani claimed that a portion of the land was registered in the name of a private person in December last year. A case has been registered against the official concerned for overlooking the standing instruction.

Heavy demand for halls

There are around 20 marriage halls in Nandivaram-Guduvancheir and all remain booked throughout the year since people from around 45 hamlets nearby prefer to conduct functions in the town panchayat area in view of its accessibility, source said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu