Land Acquisition Quashed for Salem Expressway

The Madras High Court on Monday cancelled the land acquisition announcement for the controversial eight-lane expressway between Chennai-Salem at a cost of about Rs 10,000 crore. Passing the orders in the case filed by PMK leader AnbumaniRamadoss and several landowners, the court said the state government should restore the land to the owners and re-register it in their names within eight weeks. The state government issued a notification last May and began acquiring land for the project, evoking strong protests from the farmers. The project became a major campaign point for the opposition parties against the ruling AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre.