HC dismisses plea against metro rail alignment

Chennai: Madras High Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking to forbear the authorities from constructing an underground metro railway line between the heavily congested Washermanpet and Mannadi areas in the city following a deviation in the alignment.

The George Town Building Owners Welfare Association had also sought a consequent direction to construct the railway line as per the original alignment.

Submitting that the line was to run under a densely populated area where almost every house had only a single well to meet their water requirements, the petitioner claimed that nearly 5000 houses would be affected by the new alignment.

Besides, the proposed excavation at 33 feet below the surface of the earth was likely to pose a grave danger to the lives of the people and safety of the houses as it would cause massive vibrations.

In its counter, the Chennai Metro-Rail Ltd said the route from Mannadi to Washermanpet was found to be the shortest. Besides, the alignment at Old Jail Road was not found to be technically feasible.

The counter said that since the tunnel would run through sand-clayey stratum the pressure required for advancement by the tunnel boring machine would be less and the viberations substantially low.

The company had served notices asking the people to close borewells and wells along the restricted corridor after providing alternative borewells or a compensation of Rs one lakh, after making house to house visits.

In his order, Justice Vinod K Sharma held there was no merit in the petition and dismissed it.