Work on Velachery flyover stalled as land acquisition case goes to SC

The halt in work means the motorists travelling via Vijayanagar junction have to battle traffic snarls for several more months until the project is completed.

A senior official of the Highways Department said that after completing nearly 85 per cent of the construction, the work near the junction could not be taken up due to the Madras High Court order over acquiring a private land measuring about 2,000 square meters.

Following the HC dismissing the land acquisition order, the official said that they had moved the Supreme Court but the case was posted for hearing in the third week of November with a rider that no work should be done at the private land if the possession was not taken.

The private land is crucial for further construction at the busy junction. "We have to shift the Metro water pipeline running along the junction before any construction. For the pipeline shifting, we also need to take possession of the land in dispute. With the court order in place, our works have come to a standstill and we will not be able to proceed without getting a favourable order from the Supreme Court," the official said, adding that the dispute among the landowners' family has led to the court case. The attempts to negotiate with them had failed, the official noted.

The work on the Velachery twin flyover began at an estimated cost of Rs 92 crore in January 2016, to ease traffic flow in the Vijayanagar junction — linking Velachery Main Road, Velachery Bypass Road, Taramani Link Road and GST Road.

As per the plan, one flyover will start at Velachery Bypass Road and end near the Velachery MRTS station. The other will connect Taramani Link Road to the Bypass Road. The second flyover will go over the first one at a height of 13 m at the junction. Both flyovers will have two lanes and will be unidirectional.

So far, the highways department has completed about 85 per cent of its work. "We have laid 48 foundations out of the total 54 and completed 42 deck slabs out of 52," the official said. The project was programmed to be completed by March 2020. "Considering the delay due to the court order, we will be able to complete the work on the twin flyover in six months from taking possession of the land," the official said.