Residents of streets near Mambalam High Road were in for a shock recently, when they received letters from the city’s Revenue Division’s land acquisition offices.
According to sources, these stated that the proposed metro underground work from Vadapalani to Nandanam will pass through Kodambakkam and that people here would be displaced.
Opposing the move, a resident of Vivekananda’s Street, Pasupathy, who is also the joint secretary of T Nagar Exnora, says, “It was on 12 November that residents living in the area received the notice. As per the plan, a metro station is to be constructed near the Kodambakkam Railway Station and since it is underground, most of the owners of the houses here would be directly affected.”
“More than 200 houses including 11 multi-storied buildings and about 2500 persons including 150 senior citizens, will be affected, if the proposed construction goes as per plan. Almost all of us are living here for the past five decades. Since the area itself is congested, what is the need for a metro project in this locality?,” he asks.
It is said that residents have now decided to form a committee and take the issue to higher authorities. “We have already met officials at the CMRL and they had asked us to raise the issue with the local Tahsildar. We have planned for a meeting with him,” he adds.
The committee has also decided to write a letter directly to the Prime Minister about the issue. “The route has been planned numerous times, and has been changed five times. At least, if it was over the ground, then 50 per cent of the problem would be reduced,” he says.
“The proposed stations are Meenakshi College, Kodambakkam, Panagal Park and Natesan Park. What is the need for a station in Kodambakkam when there is one at Meenakshi College, which is not even a kilometre apart? Also, we have only two green spaces in Mambalam in Natesan Park and Panagal Park. If this project materialises, we fear that even that would be lost,” he says. The committee has decided to protest until the route is changed.