Madras HC quashes GO for land acquisition for Salem-Chennai 8-lane Green corridor project

Passing orders on a batch of petitions filed by 35 land owners, Former Union Minister and PMK MP Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, advocates and others against the project, a Division Bench comprising

Mr Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice V Bhavani Subbaroyan also directed the the State Government to restore the lands to its rightful owners by re-registering them in their names, within eight weeks.

The Bench held that environmental clearance was mandatory since the project would have an adverse effect on environment, water bodies and it required a mega realignment.

It also said the project report submitted by a consultant was not satisfactory.

The project witnessed several protests and was opposed by farmers.

The Green Corridor project also turned out to be the key campaigning plank of Opposition parties, even as the government asserted that it would not implement any project that went against the interests of farmers.

The ambitious 277.3 km long project connecting Salem and Chennai under the Centre’s ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’ scheme, was aimed at reducing the travel time between the two cities by half to about

two hours and 15 minutes from the present six hours.

But the manner in which the alignment was planned, requiring vast tracts of farm lands and forest lands, led to a spate of protests and opposition from the locals, including farmers over fears of

losing their land, besides environmentalists who opposed felling of trees for the project.

The Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways has sanctioned the eight-lane expressway at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore.

The 277.3-km expressway, which will begin in Ariyanur in Salem and cullminate at Vandalur, near Chennai, will pass through the districts of Salem (36.3 km), Dharmapuri (56 km), Krishnagiri (two km), Tiruvannamalai (123.9 km) and Kancheepuram (59.1 km).

But the project faced stiff opposition. What started as a minor protest by farmers turned into a major movement, with the arrest of farmers, activists, even as various Opposition parties also expressed their solidarity with the farmers and organised agitations.