Greeva Garg –
Published on: August 1, 2021 at 1:40 PM
The Madras High Court while taking up a plea, stayed the construction of a 120-ft road across two waterbodies in Thiruvidanthai near Thiruporur to adjoin the area with the 160-acre township on East Coast Road (ECR) developed by a private construction firm.
In the plea filed by G Raja, a local resident in the area, the division bench comprising of Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice TV Thamilselvi passed the interim order.
Raja said, “Over 43.68 acres of land are being irrigated with water primarily from Thiruvali Kuttai and Ambal Eari. Over several years many farm lands in the area were converted to residential plots and sold to private individuals. A private realty firm tried to lay a road cutting between two lakes to gain access to their land. The attempt was initially dropped since villagers opposed the move.”
The issue of road construction by a private realty firm was again bought before the District Collector on July 20, 2020, after the firm damaged villagers’ water tanks using earthmovers.
In the meantime, villagers came to know that the Government Order (G.O.) has already been passed irrespective of their opposition, to widen the 60-ft road, approved by the Director of Town Planning and Member Secretary of Mamallapuram Local Planning Authority.
The petitioner said, “The GO is illegal and has been issued for extraneous consideration without considering that water bodies are being alienated for commercial purpose,”
Challenging the G.O. the petitioner then moved to the Jurisdictional Revenue Divisional Officer who further directed the Thiruporur Tahsildar to take actions against the detachment of water bodies. The petitioner contended that no action has been taken yet.
Raja added, “Already three roads are there for the firm people to reach their land. But they want to build a road across the lakes for commercial purposes.”
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