CHENNAI: In a bid to get No Objection Certificate from National Monuments Authority (NMA) for the proposed Rs 417 crore bus terminus project at Kilambakkam (off Vandalur) for south-bound buses, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has appointed Reach Foundation for preparing Heritage Impact Assessment report.
This comes after the NMA urged CMDA to submit Heritage Impact Assessment Report since the total floor area of the proposed construction is more than 5,000 sq.metres.
The 88 acres for building the bus terminus lies within protected and prohibited zone of Archaeological Survey of India as it contains ‘Megalithic Burial Sites’.
According to an amendment to the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act in January 2010, construction is banned within 100 metres of ASI-protected areas and any construction or reconstruction or repair of a building with 200 m of such areas requires permission from NMA.
J Chandrasekaran, secretary and Public Relations officer, Reach Foundation, told Express that he got the letter from CMDA asking the organisation to undertake the Heritage Impact Assessment for development of the terminus and submit a report.
“We will do a survey on how far it is from the proposed construction. Already staff have been assigned and we have informed CMDA. We are actually facilitating the construction of the terminus. It will be matter of weeks when we will be submitting the report to the government following which the work for building the terminus will start,” he said.
Interestingly, this comes at a time when the National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited has urged Tamil Nadu government to develop a Bus Port Cell in the State on a pilot basis.
A former planner, on condition of anonymity, has suggested that Kilambakkam bus terminus could be an ideal project to be considered for implementation by NHIDCL under Build Operate Transfer (BOT) project as Koyambedu bus terminus has been running into loss.
Even the Rs 95 crore Madhavaram Bus terminus project has its own share of controversies over the feasibility and construction, he said.
While the State is yet to submit the proposal, the Kilambakkam terminus is also facing legal issues after Supreme Court admitted a case challenging the land ownership.
Official sources indicated that though legal opinion has been sought, the project is unlikely to be stalled as there has been no interim order from the court.
Why NOC from National Monument Authority?