Coimbatore-Sathyamangalam Greenfield Corridor Land Acquisition in Full Swing.

The much-delayed land acquisition of the four-lane Coimbatore-Sathyamangalam greenfield corridor is about to gain some momentum with a special district revenue officer being posted. Officials at the NH wing of the state highways said ten units of revenue officers have started work already and landowners are to be sent notifications regarding the acquisition soon.

The project was initially sanctioned in May 2023 and ₹639.18 crore was given to acquire over 649.88 acres of land for the corridor which starts from Kurumbapalayam near Kovilpalayam in Coimbatore district to Sathyamangalam in Erode district. Yet the project turned into a stalled work for over two and a half years due to myriad reasons for delay.

One of the major concerns here is compensation to the landowners. The NH wing offers a maximum of ₹3 lakh percent, which is around ₹7.5 crore per acre. In places where the demand for the market price is high, such as Kovilpalayam and Kurumbapalayam, the market rate crosses ₹10 lakhs percent. This is going to invite local farmers and villagers to protest.

The proposed four-lane road would be 96 km long and cover Kurumbapalayam, Annur, Sathyamangalam, Bannari, and Dhimbam Ghat Road up to Hasanur on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. The total width would be 22 meters, including a four-meter median. The section passing through the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) will remain a two-lane road, and the existing roads will be widened from seven meters to ten meters. The Bannari-Hasanur stretch along Dhimbam Ghat Road will also be upgraded. Meanwhile, land prices in Kurumbapalayam, Annur, and Sathyamangalam have gone up on the back of expectations surrounding the project.

K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, has strongly criticized the NH wing for having taken over the project from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). According to him, had NHAI been allowed to continue the work, the acquisition of land and construction of roads would have begun. “The NH wing hasn’t even begun 1% of the work since May 2023. What was the reason for taking the project over their head if they couldn’t complete it?”.

As land acquisition works gain momentum, all eyes on the NH wing are now holding their breath on whether the project will finally break the roadblock or face some more.