CHENNAI: The state government on Wednesday refuted claims of delay in acquiring land for railway projects across the state.
Responding to allegations raised at various forums, the government, in an official statement, clarified since 2021, land acquisition has been prioritised and expedited for several long-pending projects.
The government highlighted that 100% of the land required for the Tindivanam-Nagar new broad-gauge project and the Thoothukudi-Madurai (via Arupukottai) new line Phase I has been acquired. Additionally, 98% of the land for the Chinnasalem-Kallakurichi new line has also been completed.
Regarding the Tiruvannamalai-Tindivanam new line, the state government had approved the acquisition of 229.23 hectares of land in 2011.
However, the project was stalled for not allocating funds. Similarly, the railways have not prepared the Land Plan Schedule (LPS) or allocated funds for the Athipattu-Pudhunagar new line, the statement said.
For the Thoothukudi-Madurai (via Aruppukottai) new line Phase II, the government approved the acquisition of 702.3 hectares of land. However, the process has been frozen as the railways requested the state government to dismantle the Land Acquisition (LA) unit and failed to allocate the necessary funds.
In 2022, the state government also approved the process for acquiring 12.38 hectares of land for the Gati Shakti multimodal cargo terminal at Erode. However, the railways have since abandoned the plan.
For the Morappur-Dharmapuri new line, 8.25 hectares of land has been acquired out of the 78.55 hectares required. The acquisition of 24 hectares has faced law and order issues, leading to the suspension of compensation disbursement.
The railways have informed the district collector that they are exploring alternative alignments for the track in certain areas, while the remaining 46.3 hectares is still being acquired.
For the proposed new lines in the Mannargudi-Pattukottai (41 km) and Thanjavur-Pattukottai (51 km) sections, the district administration is currently preparing proposals for land acquisition.