It’s been 23 years, when will MRTS Phase-2 see completion?

23 years after Phase-1 between Chennai Beach and Mylapore was inaugurated in 1995, construction over a 1.5-km stretch on the Inner Ring Road remains suspended, mired in litigation.

The incomplete pillars on Chennai’s Inner Ring Road are a stark reminder of one of the tall claims of the state and central government about the extended Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS). Twenty three years after Phase-1 of Parakkum Rail between Chennai Beach and Mylapore was inaugurated in 1995, construction over a 1.5-Km stretch from Adambakkam to Puzhuthivakkam on the Inner Ring Road remains suspended.

The 20-kilometre long MRTS line from Chennai Beach to Velachery includes prominent and populated localities that are not serviced by the older suburban railway network. However, the MRTS  has not been utilised to its maximum potential because of the phased construction work on the Inner Ring Road stretch.

Three proposed stations in this 1.5-km stretch (Adambakkam, St. Thomas Mount and Puzhuthivakkam) that are still in the construction stage, are not connected to the suburban rail network. Once construction is completed, St Thomas Mount will be the only station in India to be connected on all three city rail networks – the Metro, MRTS and suburban services.

A shift that led to delay

The proposed elevated line that goes through the residential locality of Adambakkam, was stuck due to disputes over compensation for land acquisition. When the work to construct these stations commenced in 2000, southern railway officials marked the routes and proposed a plan that would not affect residential units.

But multiple hurdles cropped up along the way. Soon after work commenced, there was some trouble in the already operational line at Tidel Park.

“During the trial run of the MRTS line from Chennai Beach to Velachery, a pillar came crashing down at Tidel Park. So work at Inner Ring Road was stopped, and all effort diverted to tackle the crisis at Tidel Park. It was two years before work resumed again,” says V Ramarao, a civic activist.

Meanwhile, the plan was also changed. “The original plan was to have the MRTS line on the Poramboke lands adjoining Adambakkam Lake. But since the erstwhile Municipal Chairman (Alandur was not part of Chennai Corporation then) R S Bharathi and Highways Minister T R Balu allotted those lands to citizens with pattas, the plan had to be changed,” says octogenarian S Ekambaram, who has been fighting the MRTS completion issue for about 18 years. A retired engineer from TNEB, Ekambaram is the President of Parvathipuram, Thillai Ganga nagar and Jeevan Nagar association.

MRTS Line    Distance    Expenditure      Status
Chennai Beach to Mylapore  9km 260 crore Operational
Mylapore to Velachery 9Km 665 crore Operational
Velachery to St Thomas Mount 3Km 417 crore Stalled in construction

Mired in litigation

In the new plan, Southern Railways earmarked a 120-feet long road for construction, which would require demolition of 75 houses in Thillai Ganga Nagar and Jeevan Nagar. In February 2007, residents filed a litigation against the new plan, after which the Madras High Court passed an order of interim injunction, ordering authorities not to disturb the property of citizens.

Despite the injunction, the state government proceeded to give eviction notice to the families, under the Land Acquisition Act. 40 of them obliged, but what angered land owners was the unjust compensation for the lost land. The new law passed by Parliament, The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, was never considered and citizens were compensated as per the centuries-old Land Acquisition Act of 1894. The old law, enacted during the British era, allows acquisition of land for public purpose by government agencies, upon payment of compensation as determined by the government. The new law mandates the government to pay more than the prevailing guideline value.

“We were granted compensation only after the new law was enacted. But, unfortunately, the revenue officers and the administrative officers deceived us, and paid only Rs 1912 per square feet, as opposed to Rs 6000, which would be the fair rate according to the new act,” said G Ezhilarasan, one of the residents. “The revenue officials calculated the value of land at 2010 prices and registered it accordingly. If they had calculated as per the market value of 2014, we would have received fair compensation,” he added.

It is also unfortunate that residents have only received 70 per cent of the total amount agreed upon by the government. In 2016, they appealed to the Madras High Court, demanding compensation as per the 2013 act.

Current status

A bench of the Madras High Court has ruled that the arguments by the counsel for the government are unacceptable and do not adhere to the provisions of the new land acquisition act. However, the court reserved judgement five months ago, meaning that it can be pronounced anytime now (within six months). 

In the recent assembly session, Alandur MLA T M Anbarasan demanded speedy completion of the stretch that would enable St Thomas Mount to become an important rail hub. “Once operational, MRTS would enable South Chennai residents to reach localities such as Mylapore and Kotturpuram with much greater ease,” Anbarasan said.

Chennai citizens are now pinning their hopes on the impending judgement that might not only fetch them fair compensation, but also put this very important mobility project back on track.

Comments:

  1. Dr.K.Ganapathy says:

    Keenly following the progress of this project. I believe the completion of this project would not only benifit the people in St. Thomas Mount region but also will be significantly helpful to people from west and northwest part of the city to reach the IT corridor and back to home. Similarly people from the south and south east part of the city would get benefited by having easy access to important locations like CMBT in the northwest part of the city.

    Once this project is completed and linked with the Chennai Metro it is going to hugely increase the patronage of both Chennai Metro and MRTS, both of which has been very poor compared to the expected patronage of these two projects. In simple words, this project completion is going to be a key factor in making both CMRL and MRTS as viable projects and also will benifit a huge section of the city’s population in reaching different parts of the city.

    Hearty thanks for the article and the updates.

  2. Balasubramanian says:

    I am one person following this issue all the time. First, the land owners contested the issue saying that the alignment had to be shifted. There were allegations, however, it was in favour of the Govt / Railways. Next issue was compensation, which went to the court again. At this point the judgement was very clear saying that it should be paid as per new Land Acquisition Act. The Govt did not go on appeal, which means that they had also accepted it. If it was implemented properly, this section would have become operational by now. In the interest of commuters in large and land owners in particular, Govt should approach the issue properly and settle it.
    See the magnitude of the loss. Reports say that the present patronage is about 60,000 and it will double when the connectivity is completed. Govt must realise that 60,000 people are daily deprived of a necessity because of its delay

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Similar Story

Pedals of change: Chennai’s shift to a sustainable mobility future

Prioritising bicycles over cars and promoting the use of public transport can increase Chennai's sustainability quotient.

The transformation of Chennai, from a trading post entrenched in the bylanes of Fort St. George, to a bustling metropolis with gleaming skyscrapers along the historic Mahabalipuram road underscores its economic progress and growth. The visionaries of the city exhibited exemplary foresight in establishing an extensive road network and suburban train systems that set a precedent for the future. The city’s continued investment in the Metro Rail, connecting important nodes of the city, is encouraging use of public transport. As per the Ease of Moving Index — Chennai City Profile report, Chennai leads the way with the highest mass transit…

Similar Story

ORR-Sarjapura gridlock: Govt, IT sector, commuters must collaborate for solutions

About 7 lakh commute to ORR-Bellandur; between 75,000 and 1 lakh live on and around Sarjapura, facing transport and infrastructure challenges.

The traffic congestion at Outer Ring Road (ORR)-Sarjapura Road has been a long-standing issue. To address this, Citizen Matters held a panel discussion, ‘Solving Sarjapura-ORR Gridlock’ on February 26th. Moderated by Meera K, co-founder of Citizen Matters, the panel included G T Prabhakar Reddy, Chief Traffic Manager, BMTC; Vivekanand Kotikalapudi, Urban Mobility Advisor; Mukund Kumar, Managing Trustee, Iblur Environs Trust; and Srinivas Alavilli, Fellow- Integrated Transport and Road Safety, WRI India.  Sarjapura Road is an integral connection to the IT corridor of south-east Bengaluru. ORR is completely developed with a focus on tech parks. There is currently a surge in…