Acquisition of 117.25 acres of wetland will turn villagers to refugees

Make us stakeholders under the new land pooling scheme, say villagers

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

The acquisition of 117.25 acres of wetland for development of Truck Terminal Complex at Karunakaracheri and Annambedu villages is facing opposition from villagers who feel that not only their livelihood but also their existence is at stake.

Karunakarancheri village panchayat president R V Bhaktavachalam said that with the project coming up the whole village will vanish from the map putting the livelihood of the villagers at stake.

Bhaktavachalam said that most of the land are smallholdings of one acre or half acre and it is the basic livelihood of farmers. “We are not against development. We had given our land already to the government for ORR project. What we request to the government is to look at an alternative of taking up the land that is not used for agriculture. “There is already 100 acres of barren land near the same place besides an unused lake. They can use it to build the truck terminal. This will save our livelihood,” he says.

Prof Sudarshan, who teaches Social Work in a city college and is a resident of the village, suggested the need for the government to implement the land pooling scheme so that these villagers who are facing the threat of losing their livelihood could become stakeholders in the project. Interestingly, the land pooling concept, which is based on the Ahmedabad model and has even been suggested under the Justice Mohan Committee report, is likely to come into being only once the government amends the Town and Country Planning Act.

Under the scheme, the landowners will submit their land to planning authorities, who will prepare a detailed development plan for the land. Once the area is developed with roads and other amenities, the pooled land will go in for bidding to get in investment for the development. Once the land is developed the remaining land will be given depending on proportionate of their pooling of the extent of land. “This could make both villagers and the developers happy,” he said.

“The villagers will support ORR and Karunakarancheri project only if they don’t lose their livelihood or their existence in the village. The government has to support the people. Now the villagers will be giving up everything and won’t be enjoying the project built on their own land. They require a support structure,” he said.

He also alleged that the government is not following National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy. “Alternative free house site should be provided within the village from where the people are being evicted,” he added.

Interestingly, the Second Master Plan for Chennai Metropolitan Area has recommended to develop a Truck Terminal at the intersection of Outer Ring Road and 200 feet wide arterial road at Karunakaracheri. Surprisingly, most of the project is coming up on the agriculture land.

But CMDA sources feel the land is strategically located one. “This is a project which will benefit the public," the CMDA sources add.