Chennai: The Tamilnadu government has approached the Supreme Court, requesting it to vacate the stay imposed on the Chennai-Salem expressway project by the Madras High Court.
The petition filed by the State government will be taken up up for hearing by the apex court 3 June.
Recently, the HC quashed the land acquisition proceedings for the controversial eight-way lane between Chennai and Salem. The verdict by the High Court on a bunch of petitions filed by farmers and PMK, was viewed a setback to the Tamilnadu government, which along with Centre, was hell-bent on executing the project despite stiff opposition from various quarters.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami came out in full support of the project recently, insisting that its construction was a necessity.
He claimed that only a handful of the drought-affected farmers were protesting against the expressway while most others were ready to part with their lands for the project. “Only 7% farmers are protesting against the project. Drought-hit farmers are protesting against the project whereas farmers with irrigated lands are ready to give up their lands for the project,” he claimed.