CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) has failed to put to use 870 acres of land that it had acquired over the years as it got embroiled in court cases and several other issues, according to State housing board officials.
The TNHB sources said out of the 870 acres, 376.39 acres were struck in court cases while nearly 69 acres were encroached upon. Another 325 acres could not be put to use owing to unavailable approach roads. Similarly, 98.72 acres of land could not be used as they lay scattered.
It is learnt that the State government sought an action-taken report from the TNHB, after an audit report highlighted the huge amount of lands lying unutilised due to various issues.
The report said that during the land acquisition process, the ex-land owners filed cases in various courts and the cases are pending.
As a result, the lands, which were acquired and for which the award amount was yet to be declared by the courts, could not be taken over by TNHB, said the report, which was accessed by Express.
Similarly, in other cases, where the judgements were delivered in favour of the TNHB, the lands could not be taken over as the lands were encroached upon by buildings.
“Under Section 47 of the Land acquisition Act, action is being taken to evict the encroachers and take over the possession of the land,”stated the report.
Some of the high-value lands that were encroached upon are in the following areas: Anna Nagar where the land value is Rs 178 crore, and Besant Nagar, where it is Rs 177.28 crore.
In other areas like Mogappair, the land value comes to Rs 47.63 crore. Unutilised land in Coimbatore is valued at Rs 17.06 crore.