The construction of a 4.65-km long bypass for Kelambakkam that had begun in 2018 is yet to be completed. This is due to the Union government demanding ₹95 crore for lands that were used as salt pans.
“The value of the land will not be more than a few crores of rupees in that location. There is a dispute about the ownership of the land. Revenue records show that the lands originally belonged to the State government and the ownership was not transferred. There was something called the East Coast Canal there and in 1956 it was declared as salt land,” said a source in the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company that is implementing the ₹243.70-crore project that includes formation of a bypass for Tiruporur town.
The Kelambakkam bypass requires land for six lanes for a length of 800 metres. The original deadline of June 2020 for the project could not be met because of lack of land.
The Thiruporur bypass, which is 7.45-km long and six-lane wide, is yet to be completed. “All the lakes and tanks in the neighbourhood are full and we are waiting for mining earth for building the road,” said an engineer associated with the project.
The Kelambakkam bypass will begin at Padur and join the IT corridor in Thaiyur. Similarly, the Thiruporur bypass will start at Kalavakkam and rejoin the main road in Vengaleri village.
K. Sivaraman, an advocate from Thiruporur, said the traffic congestion was increasing by the day on Phase 2 of Rajiv Gandhi Salai. “The bypasses are an absolute necessity and need to be completed soon. Accidents happen frequently at Kelambakkam and Thiruporur due to lack of enough width on the road. Thousands of pedestrians use these stretches since these locations are also shopping centres,” he said.
Meanwhile, residents of Kelambakkam wanted the age-old rain gauge near the bypass and an old building that used to house a salt department office to be safe guarded. The building is likely to be demolished to make way for a school and government offices, said Kathiresan, a resident.
