A total of 58 families would be shifted from the bank of the Buckingham Canal at Thoraipakkam and 63 families on patta lands on the Neelankarai side to commence work on the steel bridge connecting Rajiv Gandhi Salai (also known as OMR) with the East Coast Road (ECR).
Having obtained all clearances, including from the Inland Waterway Authority, a no-objection certificate from the Water Resources Department (WRD), and one from the SEIAA, the Highways Department has set the ball in motion.
The six-lane high-level facility costing ₹ 36 crore will have a height clearance of four mts from the high tide line, thus allowing enough space for the passage of boats beneath.
The bridge, which is a part of the ₹270 crore project connecting OMR and ECR, will take off from the extension of the Pallavaram -Thoraipakkam Radial Road and land around 200 mts from the ECR. Land acquisition alone cost the project ₹ 200 crore and the civil cost of laying roads and construction of the bridge ₹ 70 crore.
Sources said that the department had written to the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board seeking allotment for 58 families who had settled along the Canal on the Thoraipakkam side. “They are located on WRD land and are to be shifted to houses identified by the Board. Each tenement will cost ₹ 3.5 lakh. The Greater Chennai Corporation has enumerated the beneficiaries and notices issued. Once these families move, the 680-metre-long road will be extended to the point where the bridge will take off,” explained an official source.
On the Neelankarai side, a few persons have gone to court against the acquisition of their lands. Orders have been reserved in the matter. As many as 63 houses are to be demolished.
Federation of Thoraipakkam Residents’ Welfare Associations president A. Francis, who welcomed the additional connectivity to the ECR, said that care must be taken to ensure pedestrian facilities on the radial road. “Already new apartment complexes are coming up along the new road. Foot overbridges with escalators and elevators should be constructed.”
Curated by Shiv Shakti Mishra
