Save Pozhichalur - 2
Quite a few people have commented about my previous post.
Some of the ‘top itams’ are as under
1. That I’m mixing up issues. The issues allegedly mixed up are ‘development’ and ‘compensation’.
Now, if only things were so simple in this country!
To avoid this so called mix-up I have to assume that the government will pay ‘market value’ leave alone ‘150% of market value’ of the property as compensation.
When the government has made no such announcement that I know of, there is no reason for me to ‘assume’ that. If that’s a proposal let the government announce that.
2. Airport need be expanded, no doubt
For now, let me not even get into the politican’s land angle.
Is there any law which states that Chennai can have only one airport and that too only in Meenambakkam?? How come Bangalore is constructing its own international airport which is a good distance from the city?? Who the hell stops the Tatas, Birlas and our own Maran family from forming a consortium with some foreign developer and build a new airport in govt. land in some far away place??
Won’t the flights land and take off from there?? Do you guys forsee any vasthu issues??
I’d say the govt. can even think about some area in North Chennai. That would bring in some development in there. This would also mean some punniya aathmas who have lived in South Chennai all their lives can leave their foot prints in North Chennai due to which that area may get vimochanam and see some real development.
3. Filing PIL.
Its like saying someone will come and take my property and then I have to file a PIL to get the sale proceeds from him. That means by default I’m plundered, but I have to file a PIL and run behind courts to make it look like a sale.
And ladies and gentlemen, PILs are like masala dosas - u ask now, u will be given in 10 minutes flat, yep thats how fast the courts work. Sigh!
4. Boat club matter
I sincerely apologize. I should’ve realized that boat club area alone is too small. I should’ve included areas like adyar, kotturpuram, alwarpet, abhiramapuram etc to stress my point.
Sarcasm apart, the point I was trying to make was that any area has the potential to be ‘developed’ for some purpose or the other. But no ultra rich has never ever been affected by any ‘development’ to the best of my knowledge.
5. There is always a cost to development.
That’s only half the sentence, the other half reads “and that cost is never borne by the rich and almost always by the middle and lower classes in this country”.
6. I should’ve simply mentioned about compensation
I deliberately did not mention that because a house has got a lot of senti value to those who have only one property and who have lived there all their life. I am nobody to suggest a price for that.
If there are no options (thats a big IF) then the govt. which wants their land so badly has to take the initiatve and come up with a decent proposal to the PAP (project affected people).
My advance apologies for suggesting an offer price, but say, if the govt. comes up with an offer of 10-15 lakh per ground and a job asssurance to the affected people who need a job in their family then I think the number of agitators would be far less than what it is now.
But as I said earlier, it’s for the government to come up with a decent offer. A house is like a loved one in a family. Just because our loved one’s lives are insured for X amount does not mean that’s the value of their life and that we would kill our loved one if only we get that X amount.
6. Am I a Communist?
No. Its just that the people who control the market forces in the country would do well to have some conscience and a sense of right and wrong.
7. What I write is bullshit.
Good! It has taken 700 posts of mine for people to understand that.
December 8th, 2006 at 5:09 am
You have raised some excellent points. It is impossible to estimate the value of some intangible assets , such as the attachment one has for the house they might have grown up in. As for people complaining about a pathetic airport, it would be nice if people worried about starving children on the streets, bad roads and lack of basic amenities such as clean drinking water and drainage facilities. Until these issues are addressed I can live with a bad airport.
December 8th, 2006 at 7:20 am
And if someone residing abroad wants to say its a shame,absurd blah blah about their country of birth,i want to ask what they had offered to remedy the mentioned ills.Else, its better to shut whatever and live their “peaceful lives” in their adopted countries.
December 8th, 2006 at 7:48 am
This post has been removed by the author.
December 8th, 2006 at 8:31 am
New airport from the scratch is a good idea.
Leaving the cost factor behind, we will def end up with a more organised, more planned airport.
we could use the old airport serving the local traffic alone, especially when you have these much of local fleets flying.
// about indian too comment //
I denounce that strongly.
தன் குழந்தை அழகா இருக்கனும்னு அம்மா நினைக்கிறது தப்பா ?
am sure that’s the intent behind NV sir’s comment.
December 8th, 2006 at 10:44 am
PK,
Valid points. North Madras sounds a good option. But practically seeing, any direction we go there will be the same problem. Instead I think government can request land from army or air force. Army and Air force can relocate to some interior areas.
December 8th, 2006 at 11:18 am
North Chennai is not feasible because most new development is planned along the OMR, Sriperumbudur, GST Road.
A realistic option is along the sea towards Mamallapuram, there is plenty of dry lands there. Unfortunately, any land acquisition in this stretch will run into rough weather due to the PMK opposition. A satellite city planned there was shelved recently as you may all know. Another option is between Sriperumbudur and Chengalpet, again this has political issues.
I feel sorry for the Pozhichalur middle class non-political residents. The fair price itself is debatable because land prices in notified areas plummet anyway.
Sympathies to you guys and good luck.
December 8th, 2006 at 11:25 am
North Madras has lot government land which can be utilized for the purpose of the airport. This will have minimal impact on people with modest means.
December 8th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Nice post sir.
TO the other commenter’s :Imagine the cost involved in compensating the families that lived in those affected areas. Some have owned the lands there for generations . When there is no transparency involved in disbursing the funds,would the people even agree to give up their possessions ?
When a party can vouch to give 2 acres of govt land free of cost to the voters for its own benefit,why cant they find land to build a new airport?
The same party shelved the satellite city plan ,that too in outskirts of the chennai ,why would they want to acquire lands inside the city limits for expansion ?
The govt should look for an alternative which would beneficial in the long run ,not just by destroying the already established residential colonies and expanding the airport but by constructing a new state of art green field airport like the neighboring states.
And our country is not cash strapped either.If they can, they CAN.
December 8th, 2006 at 9:52 pm
Indian,
thanks
indian-too,
just because someone criticises things does not mean they have bad intentions abt india.
If your comment was to hit out at NNV sir, then all i can say is
I personally know him and he is a gem of a person.
i may not agree to all his views but that’s entirely different from the respect i have for him as a person.
December 8th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
srikanth
Be it north south east or west so long as residences are not demolished in thousands that is fine.
airport, harbour , national highway edhu vena varattum…
December 8th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
ferrari,
maybe u r right.
December 8th, 2006 at 9:57 pm
anon,
>>North Chennai is not feasible because most new development is planned along the OMR, Sriperumbudur, GST Road.
ppl commute 50 kms from north to south everyday in office bus.
i dont think going to airport once in a while will be a problem
December 8th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
save
The last i read is the govt. is considering some alternate proposal. so lets keep our fingers crossed.
December 9th, 2006 at 4:23 am
pk, so u are quite agitated about airport expansion taking over pozhichalur huh. I remember you writing about Arundhati Roy and her opposition to the Narmada dam. So I see now when development hits home very close you seem to follow her stance too…… What a tragic turn of events :-). BTW I have no comments on the issue at stake but being a psychological observer I am more interested in noting how people’s view will change towards the same subject when it affects them versus others.
December 9th, 2006 at 4:24 am
indian -too ur comments on Indians living outside of India is unwarranted. If these people don’t work in these foreign lands, you will not have the shiny IT parks back home. Remember that. It takes more than one oxen in this case to pull the cart.
December 9th, 2006 at 6:28 am
Karthik S :
5. There is always a cost to development.
That’s only half the sentence, the other half reads “and that cost is never borne by the rich and almost always by the middle and lower classes in this country”.
PK has already put forth his views for your question. Any answers to counter PK’s views ?
December 9th, 2006 at 7:58 am
Karthik S
clever of you not to take a stance on this
so Prabu karthik should always take a stance which is different from Arundhati Roy?
Or say, if i am a supporter, i should take a stance always in synch with Arundhati Roy??
I am not Arundhati Roy to make millions out of some other’s plight by writing. nor am i against development. and nobody has accused me ot taking some tribal’s land either.
With regard to this airport project,
1)some change the original plan because otherwise some politican’s ambitions are curtailed and
2)a greenfield venture is not considered because some star hotels in the area will lose revenue, and
3)no official talk about adequate and fair compensation in accordance with market rates
and if all this means ‘development’, yeah i am opposed to it.
my views are clear
a)the govt. shud consider a new venue for airport far away from the city and such a venture shud be able to handle air traffic for the next 30 yrs minimum.
b)if such a sitn. cannot be considered at all (thats a huge assumption) the govt. shud deal with acquisition with much more clarity and sensitivity.
it will be highly inconsistent if, for a market centric development, the govt. will not pay market rates as compensation.
December 10th, 2006 at 7:02 am
anon,
I completely agree with pk’s view about the cost of development always being borne by the poor. This is nothing new. Let’s take outsourcing for example, the latest development. CEOs don’t lose their jobs, programmers do. pk has not found the truth here. It’s just that the truth has hit home near.
Time and again it has been proven there’s nothing new to it. Look at the way Singur is fighting against Tata Motors. Being a shareholder of Tata as well as a human I’m actually torn on issues like this.
When I read “Save Pozhichalur” I actually thought you guys were talking about the pozhichalur lake that once stood there before it became pozhichalur town.
I think developing an airport anywhere in Madras city is a foolish decision. The airport should be developed in a place which can be reached from Sriperumbudhur (Nokia, Dell, Mitsubishi, Caterpillar) by 30 mins as well as by the IT parks in ECR by 30 mins and be reachable from MM Nagar (Ford etc) industrials by 30 mins.
Because these are the guys who will be using the airport heavily. Now I’m not geographically sound when it comes to TN especially Madras but can u guys pinpoint a place like this ?
December 10th, 2006 at 8:32 am
karthik S
i dont know about pozhichalur lake issue.
Even if i did, i think thats a completely diffeent issue. it has got more to do with urbanization and things like that.
Aprom adhenna 30 min kanakku??
Fact remains that most of the employees who work there (be it ford or hyundai or IT corridor) travel minimum 1.30 hrs one way to reach their offices.
if an employee can endure the city traffic ordeal everyday, surely people can endure travelling from airport to city once in a while.
December 25th, 2006 at 9:45 am
thank you boys for your interest in the matter.Iam a resident of this place for the past 30 years.I am aged 65 yrs and was really shocked of the news of the Airport Expn at our place.I agree with all your comments.I am extremely happy to view your views.But the basic question is how come a project involving thousands of crores within a periodi of exactly two months?Because the earlier project covering vancant lands was there till Sept,2005 and changed to a project on dwelling houses in Dec,2005.I hope and wish that you can enlighten the readers by giving your views.The Honourable High court has stayed the proceedings in April,2006 and I think they would have observed a prima facie malpractice or a bad intention of the authorities in the matter.Hope to share more and thanks a lot for your goodwill.
July 4th, 2008 at 10:23 am
What happend to this issue guys. Now it is 2008. iam planning to buy land in pozhichalur.