Corporation promises to protect road, reserved site
The board of the Coimbatore Corporation that says the land is for a 100 ft road at Kannikaparameswari Layout on Nanjundapuram Road in the city.The Coimbatore Corporation has promised to protect a scheme road and a reserved site near Nanjundapuram Road in the city that had been locked in litigation. This follows a High Court direction to the civic body to “consider and dispose of” the petition from C. Ponnuswamy, a resident of Kannikaparameswari Layout, challenging before the High Court the claim by an individual (Muthu) that the land for the road and the reserved site belongs to him and that these are actually meant for constructing houses.Mr. Ponnuswamy said on Friday that this had threatened to deny access to his house totally, both from within the layout and also from Nanjundapuram Road. He pointed out that the 100 ft scheme road proposed in the layout plan approved by the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) was the only access to his house from other by-lanes in the colony and also the main road. The court directed the Corporation in June to take up the measures required to protect both the sites. Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran said in a recent letter to Mr. Ponnuswamy said that the land for the road and the reserved site had not been handed over to the civic body even after the DTCP had clearly earmarked spaces for these while approving the layout plan. The Corporation was now speeding up the process of having a fence around the reserved site. It had also put up a board at the site saying the land was for public purpose.
Similarly, a board had also been put up on the other land to indicate to the public that it was meant for laying the 100 ft road and that it belonged to the Corporation. The letter also said that Muthu (who made claims of ownership of the land) “has no right at all to challenge the approval order that was granted by the Deputy Director of Town and Country Planning, because he has nothing to do with the approval granted by the DTCP”. Feeling immensely relieved because of the court order and the Corporation’s assurance to him, Mr. Ponnuswamy said this signalled an end to the ordeal he and his family went through. “Even our drinking water line was damaged during efforts made by the opposite party to cordon off the lands he claimed to own,” he recalled. “There was even pressure to remove a streetlight. Such was the kind of pressure put on us.”
