On Monday, houses of nearly 100 families of Cherian Nagar on the Ennore Expressway in north Chennai were pulled down by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Chennai Corporation. Together, they cleared 3,500 square metres of land to make way for widening the road that runs alongside Bay of Bengal.
“Cherian Nagar had been a major bottleneck. But now, we have enough space to widen the 250-metre stretch. Hopefully, residents of the other settlement, Nalla Thaneer Odai Kuppam, too will agree and move to alternative sites,” an official of NHAI said.
Residents of Cherian Nagar have been provided alternative accommodation in Ranganathapuram and compensation for the buildings. “The Chief Minister also provided us with Rs. 20,000 as shifting allowance,” said a resident.
The expressway is part of the Rs. 600-crore Ennore-Manali Road Improvement Project in which four roads including Manali Oil Refinery Road, Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panchetti Road and the northern sector of Inner Ring Road are being widened to help improve connectivity to Chennai and Ennore ports.
Residents of NTO Kuppam, a fishing hamlet, are refusing to move to All India Radio quarters in Ennore and want row houses or lands closer to the present site. They say they have been forced to move inland due to sea erosion as a result of the Chennai Port.
Inside the fishing harbour, a stretch of 150 metres too has to be widened. The road has been laid up to an underpass there and is waiting for the completion of land reclamation for use by fishermen. “We have made it very clear that unless we get land, we cannot move. We need space to dry fish and to sell them. Once the reclamation is over, we will move,” said a fisherman.
