Complete ROB and subway works near rly station: govt told

The Madras High Court has directed the State Highways (SH) department to complete the construction of road over bridge (RoB) and underground subway near the Veppampattu railway station in Tiruvallur district, provided there was no injunction preventing the work.

The first bench of Madras High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice PD Audikesavalu issued the direction while disposing of a public interest litigation moved by S Marimuthu, a railway employee and an activist from Ayanavaram.

The petitioner had prayed for a direction to the Tiruvallur Collector and State Highways Department to take appropriate action on his representation dated July 14 demanding the departments to complete land acquisition and road construction works for the RoB.

“While we are hearing the connected petitions, we gave liberty to the petitioners therein to maintain a civil suit for declaration of title and injunction and thus, dismissed the writ petitions. Hence, the stay order has come to an end. In view of the above, the government would now proceed further to complete the acquisition process and construction of the road, unless an injunction is granted by the court,” the judges said.

The petitioner said that the work on the road over bridge and subway, which started in 2010, was yet to be completed. The level crossing (LC14) that existed near the railway station was removed, due to which, the passengers arriving at Veppampattu station are forced to put their lives at risk while crossing four railway lines to reach their destination.

“Though 75 per cent of the works of this Rs 30 crore project was completed by the Railways, the remaining work, including the construction of connecting road, has been kept pending by the State government due to land acquisition issues,” the petitioner had said.