Chennai: More than 50 residents living in and around the Mylapore-Alwarpet area came together to discuss the proposed metro project phase – 2, recently. The meeting was coordinated by E Muralidharan, resident of Alwarpet and it was headed by former MLA of Mylapore, S Ve Shekher.
Muralidharan says, ‘The meeting was organised to discuss the proposed Metro Rail project that comes under Phase -2 as it passes through localities like TTK Road, Luz Church Road, Mandaveli, Katchery Road, Royapettah High Road, Luz, causing a lot of displacements.’
According to him, more than 1,000 people will get affected by the proposed project as it will displace houses, commercial establishments and even places of worship. “Many residents living in these areas received land acquisition notice a year ago and with the soil test for the metro project currently happening in the locality, we decided to come together to oppose the move. The locality is a very crowded and has many houses apart from temples, churches and mosques. We are also well connected with buses and MRTS trains, so the people here, first of all, don’t want the metro rail,” says Muralidaran.
“Any facility brought by the government should help and facilitate the masses and not disturb them. There is absolutely no communication and consultation between the CMRL and the people. They just issued notices, made marking inside the houses and forcing the residents to surrender their properties. Saddening part is even during the recent election campaigns, all the candidates said that they will be implementing the metro rail project here,” he adds.
“Instead of extending the line to these areas it should be extended in the south side up to Chengelpet, north side up to Sri City where there are lots of IT companies, industries, education institutes and many other business establishments. This will immensely benefit people in these locations to reach the airport and the city fast. This will further expand the city, reduce – people crowding and traffic congestion,” adds Murali.
Through the meet, the residents have now decided to write to the Central government opposing the move. “People getting affected because of this project have decided to fight for the rights democratically either politically or legally,” says Murali.