The decision of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) to forcibly acquire 32 cents of land owned by Seematti Textiles on M.G. Road has sent the right message to big businesses and others who were dilly-dallying on surrendering land for Kochi metro.
Officials of the metro agency said they would resort to more forcible acquisition of plots in case negotiations fail. “Land acquisition is already delayed and has skipped many deadlines. We cannot wait any longer since many rounds of negotiations are over with most of the landowners. As per the schedule, the metro viaduct has to be ready by June 2015,” they said.
A few merchants who were all along hesitant have shed their reluctance and are expressing their willingness to hand over land for the metro for fear of forcible acquisition. “Around 96 per cent of the 40 hectares of land needed for metro has been acquired,” said Elias George, KMRL Managing Director. “A few shops in Aluva will be taken over this week. A negotiation meeting of tenants of a corporation-owned building in Ernakulam South has been convened this week. Other landowners are expected to hand over land shortly.”
The District Collector has convened a district-level purchase committee meeting on December 5 prior to taking over a few plots on Jos Junction-South Railway Station stretch.
Out of the 35 cents of land required for widening the stretch, 32.50 has been handed over to KMRL. The widening process is getting delayed due to change in alignment of the metro corridor and shifting of metro station from within the railway station to the approach road.
Next in line would be taking over of land identified near major metro stations for parking commuters’ vehicles, official sources said.
Completing land acquisition for the metro is late by over a year. The Finance Secretary has convened a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday to finalise plans to widen Vyttila-Pettah Road, which was not included in metro’s land acquisition package. KMRL plans to widen narrow parts of the corridor by paying around Rs.110 crore as compensation to landowners. Widening Pettah-Tripunithura (SN Junction) stretch too is overdue.
