Washermanpet college rails against Metro's land plan.

Following a notice by Chennai Metro Rail Limited seeking to acquire a portion of its land, Sir Theagaraya College in Old Washermanpet has been all astir.

Officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) maintained that the land was being taken only to facilitate construction work of a station as part of Phase I extension of the Metro line and would be returned to the college after the work is completed in a few years. However, college officials said CMRL had not stated in unambiguous terms if this take-over will be temporary or permanent.

This confusion arises from the wording of the notice CMRL sent the college, in which it seeks a portion of the college on ‘temporary/permanent’ basis.

“They should come forward to hold talks with us. Only then would there be some clarity. We plan to take the land from them only during the time of construction after which it will be returned. There will be an entry/exit that will come up here,” an official of CMRL said.

College officials said the land that would be taken over includes buildings housing the commerce, physics and zoology departments and administrative offices.

“If the land is taken away even temporarily, we would not be able to access the zoology block. The other buildings will have to be demolished. Besides, the CMRL has not specified whether it is taking away the land permanently or temporarily,” said P. Ravichandra Babu, principal.

“They are asking for 1,12,000 sq. feet, which comes to around 2.5 acres,” P.T. Kumaraswamy Chetty, secretary and correspondent of the Sir Thyagaraja Chetty Educational Institution, said.

The college was established on about a five-and-a-half acres of land donated in 1917 for educational purposes by Pitti Theagaraya Chetty. “Sir Pitti could have opted to set up a college in T. Nagar but he chose Old Washermanpet as he wanted to help the people of the locality,” said Mr. Chetty, when CMRL posted a notice on the college walls a few months ago.

This is not the first time that land acquisition issues have cropped up for Chennai Metro Rail. For instance, five years ago when Phase I work began, members of Pachaiyappa’s college too protested but had to eventually give away 37 cents for construction work.

P. Gajivaradhan, principal of the college, said, “Originally, they were planning to take three acres for the station, on our premises. There was no document for the land that the CMRL sought, so we protested. We were given Rs.10 crore as goodwill measure and not as compensation.”

THE HINDU