CHENNAI: Former students and professors joined the students of Pachaiyappa’s College on Tuesday to voice their unhappiness over the acquiring of land for the proposed construction of a Metro Rail station on the campus. Demanding that the Metro Rail station proposed to be constructed there be relocated to another place, over 400 students staged a protest near the Memorial Hall.The protesters claimed that the Directorate of Collegiate Education had issued an order on August 3 to the Pachiayappa’s Trust Board asking it to hand over 3.194 acres of land belonging to them. This was for the Metro Rail authorities to construct a railway station and they demanded it be withdrawn. The agitators said that the college that had a history of 170 years had played an important role in educating the under- privileged and had also educated many personalities, including Arignar Anna and Mathematician Ramanujam. “They have taken three cents of land from the Kilpauk Medical Hospital as the rail track runs in front of the hospital. They could have done that in the case of our college too. Instead, they have proposed to construct a station and they want over three acres of land. Where will the students go if they keep taking land for projects? Why can’t they acquire land from the St George School that has a large piece of land? It’s used only for functions. If we question the government, they will bring up the minority issue,” said CN Murthy, Secretary, Federation of Pachaiyappa College students.Besides losing greenery on the campus, including many trees that are a 100-years-old and rare medicinal plants, the students claimed that they would also lose the arch that was at the entrance of the campus, which was inaugurated by the Chief Minister in the year 1994, when the college celebrated its 150 year anniversary. “We are already suffering from a lack of space on our campus. It will affect the students if they keep acquiring land from us,” said a student.The protesters pointed out that there were already railway stations proposed at KMC and at Thiru Vi Ka park and there was only a distance of about 1.25 kilometres between the two stations. They added that there was no need for another station. “Our college land has been acquired four times already against the rules. We have only 30 acres in a college that had four stages of courses from under graduation to PhD. Normally, they require a minimum of 57 acres but we are already running short of space. If they take more land, where will we go,” asked another agitator.
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