CM’s assurance on service lanes along Tiruchi-Thanjavur NH fails to bring cheer to residents
NHAI has prepared a detailed project report for an elevated highway, which is opposed by the residents; traders and merchants want an elevated highway as service lane will need land acquisition and cause their displacement
A government schoolteacher was arrested on Saturday for allegedly assaulting a police inspector in Lalgudi.
Azhagammai, Inspector of All Women Police Station, was involved in security work at the Saptharishiswarar temple festival held on Saturday. While regulating the crowd, Ms. Azhagammai had allegedly asked R. Karthikadevi, 41, from Nannimangalam, a teacher working in Puthurpalayam Government Higher Secondary School, to stand aside. This led to argument when Ms. Karthikadevi allegedly assaulted Ms. Azhagammai.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s promise to build an elevated corridor on the city stretch of the TiruchiThanjavur National Highway along with service lanes has not enthused residents welfare organisations which insist that the service road project, as originally planned, should be completed at the earliest.
The Chief Minister had held out an assurance to the residents while campaigning in support of the MDMK candidate for the Tiruchi Lok Sabha constituency, Durai Vaiko, and the DMK candidate for Perambalur, K.N. Arun Nehru, at Siruganur on Friday.
Listing the promises made by the DMK in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Stalin said that an elevated corridor, a demand frequently raised by the School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, would be built between Thuvakudi and Palpannai on the TiruchiThanjavur National Highway.
“I now assure you that along with the elevated corridor, we will build service roads there,” he said, seeking to strike a balance and meet the demands of
The absence of service lanes (from Palpannai to Thuvakudi) TiruchiThanjavur National Hihghway on the outskirts of Tiruchi city causes traffic chaos.
both the residents and traders on the issue.
The Chief Minister’s assurances came in the wake of persistent demands for construction of services lanes on the 14.5km stretch by residents living along the highway on the one hand and stiff opposition to the land acquisition for the purpose by property owners who face displacement due to the project on the other.
Residents and property owners had formed rival federations to lobby for their demands. The Federation for Retrieval of TiruchiPalpannaiThuvakudi Service Roads had been
lobbying for building service lanes for over a decade.
It contends that in the absence of service lanes, the road had become accidentprone causing loss of lives and injuries to many road users.
On the other hand, property owners and traders had organised themselves as TiruchiThanjai NH67 Salai Virivakka Panikalal Bathikapaduvor Kootammaippu (Federation of Persons Affected by Widening of TiruchiThanjavur Highway) and press for an elevated corridor to protect the livelihood of a large number of people who will
be affected by the project.
Land acquisition
Land acquisition for the service lanes had come to a standstill in recent months. In the meantime, the National Highways Authority of India had started preparing a detailed project report for construction of an elevated corridor. While the traders body had been happy over the move, the residents were not.
Officebearers of the Federation for Retrieval of TiruchiPalpannaiThuvakudi Service Roads planned to meet the Chief Minister in Thanjavur on
Saturday to press their demand but decided against it following Mr. Stalin’s public statement on the issue. “The Chief Minister has said that the service lanes will be formed when the elevated corridor is built. We are not happy with the announcement. We want the service road project to be executed immediately. We decided against meeting the Chief Minister to avoid an embarrassing situation,” said S. Sakthivel, chief organiser of the federation.
The federation had conducted a signature campaign to enlist support for this demand. “We had collected signatures of over 18,000 persons and 37 residents organisations and planned to submit these to the CM. We will now send them through surface mail,” he said.
The elevated corridor may take several years to materialise. “On the hand, the service road is a sanctioned project already. If the government is keen on meeting our demand, the land acquisition process should be resumed immediately as 75% of it has been completed. Even if they resume work now, the service lanes can be built before the next Assembly elections,” Mr. Sakthivel added.