The Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC) on Thursday urged the Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) to hand over the allotment letters of 146 fishing stalls to the rightful owners at the earliest so that it would enable them to expedite work on the 1.6-km stretch from harbour zero gate to N4 the fishing harbour police station. “While the Rs.600-crore Ennore-Manali Road Improvement Project (EMRIP) is progressing as per schedule, work on widening the 1.6-km stretch is yet to commence. It is highly unlikely that the work would be completed before the onset of monsoon. The failure to complete this portion would defeat the sole purpose of constructing EMRIP,” a National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) official said.
According to official sources, ChPT had constructed 146 fishing stalls at the Tondairpet fishing harbour trawler, about 1.5 km from the zero gate, some two years ago.
The stalls were lying vacant as the occupants refused to move in.
During the first review meeting, Speaker D. Jayakumar asked port officials to hand over the allotment letters by March 27 and stalls by April 14.
At that time, ChPT officials sought some more time for renovating the stalls as it was lying unoccupied for several months.
