The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Karunanidhi dedicates upgraded Rajiv Gandhi Salai

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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Karunanidhi dedicates upgraded Rajiv Gandhi Salai

Special Correspondent

Chief Minister thanked for naming Old Mamallapuram Road after Rajiv

Photo: S. R. Raghunathan

NEW LOOK: The upgraded Rajiv Gandhi Salai, which was dedicated by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Wednesday. —

CHENNAI: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government has always honoured those who sacrificed their lives for the cause of the nation’s welfare, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said on Wednesday.

Mr Karunanidhi, who dedicated the upgraded 20-km-long Rajiv Gandhi Salai (the IT corridor from Madhya Kailash temple in Taramani to Siruseri) and inaugurated Oragadam Industrial Park road development works at a function at Sholinganallur near here, recalled his government’s decision to enact a law to commemorate birth anniversary of former Chief Minister K.Kamaraj in recognition of the leader’s contributions to the spread of education in the State.

The Chief Minister also referred to the move of his government [during the previous tenure] to name the Government Estate in the city after another former Chief Minister Omandur P. Ramasamy Reddi.

It was in this backdrop that the Old Mamallapuram Road was renamed as Rajiv Gandhi Salai, he added.

K.V. Thangkabalu, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president, said the Union government would always stand by the Chief Minister in protecting the interests of Tamil race. The Union government had been executing decisions taken at an all-party meeting held in Chennai early this month on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. He expressed his party’s gratitude to Mr. Karunanidhi for naming the Old Mamallapuram Road after Rajiv Gandhi.

Presiding over the function, Vellakoil M.P. Saminathan, Minister for Highways and Minor Ports, said that when the DMK government took charge in May 2006, the work on the Rajiv Gandhi Salai project was completed only for about three km. He gave an account of the execution of different projects to ease traffic congestion in and around Chennai and in other parts of the State. A detailed project report for the second phase of the road project over a length of 26 km was under preparation.

T.R. Baalu, Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, said the Chief Minister had decided that people of 10 villages living along the Salai should not be made to pay toll.

Instead, identity cards would be issued to them so that they could use the road freely.

K. Allaudin, Principal Secretary (Highways and Minor Ports ), said the State government, in the last two and a half years, allotted Rs.5,882 crore for upgrading roads in the State whereas an amount of Rs.4,732 crore was set apart during 2001-2006.

S. Ramasundaram, Chairman and Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, said the Oragadam Industrial Park road development works were divided into four packages – Singaperumal Koil-Oragadam, Oragadam-Sriperumpudur, Vandalur-Oragadam and Oragadam-Wallajahbad.

The works, estimated to cost about Rs. 300 crore, would be completed by the end of next year. The first phase of the Rajiv Gandhi Salai project was taken up at a cost of Rs. 379 crore.

A cheque for about Rs.1.33 crore was presented to the Chief Minister by representatives of managements and workers of the Chennai, Ennore and Tuticorin port trusts towards the Sri Lankan Tamils Relief Fund.

Among those who participated in the function were D. Sudarssanam, Congress Legislature Party leader, T.M. Anbarasan, Labour Minister, D. Yasodha, Deputy Leader of the CLP and M. Subramanian, Chennai Mayor.

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