The decade-old Ennore-Manali Road Improvement Project (EMRIP) received a fillip on Wednesday with major stakeholders fixing short deadlines to expedite the Rs.600-crore venture.
The meeting, lasting over 90 minutes, was held under the chairmanship of Speaker D. Jayakumar to thrash out issues such as relocating fish stalls and the Bhavani Amman temple that comes in the way of widening 1.6 km from S.N. Chetty Street to Chennai Port Trust zero gate; shifting and construction of the Kasimedu (N4) police station; providing alternative dwelling units for tenement owners of Cherian Nagar and NTO Kuppam, shifting of electric poles, transformers, water and sewer lines and laying underground cables on the stretches of Manali Oil Refinery Road and the Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panchetti Road.
Representatives of the Chennai Port Trust (ChPT), Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation, National Highways Authority of India, City Traffic Police, Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, Fisheries Department, Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC) and other officials attended the meeting.
Joint inspection
It was decided to hold joint inspection on Thursday to finalise the spots for shifting electric poles, transformers, water and sewerage lines.
The officials have been given time till April-end to complete the task.
The next review meeting will be co-ordinated by the TNRDC Managing Director in the second week of April for analysing the progress made by the stakeholders.
For relocating fishing stalls dotting the 1.6-km stretch near the port main gate, ChPT officials have been asked to issue allotment letters to the fishermen by March 31 and complete the formalities by April 14.
When the fishermen sought 42 more stalls, Mr. Jayakumar, who is also the local MLA, asked the ChPT to complete the civil works within four months.
It was also resolved to shift the Bhavani Amman temple and N4 police station to a nearby place with ChPT officials agreeing to do the needful.
On Friday, a meeting has been convened with the residents of Cherian Nagar who have sought 20 more dwelling units.
Alternative units
The issue of providing alternative residing units to 474 NTO Kuppam residents has been kept pending for the time being.
Talking to The Hindu , Chennai Trade Co-ordination Committee representatives said,
“This is for the first time in a decade, we are having a meeting of this magnitude with all the stakeholders and representative of chambers of commerce and industry due to the efforts of Mr. Jayakumar.
The stakeholders gave a definite timeline and we feel that this project is on track and, on completion, will ease congestion.”
Issues include relocation of stalls, shifting of police stations, alternative dwelling units
ChPT asked to issue allotment letters to fishermen by March 31 for relocation
