The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Their transport hardly a smooth sailing

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Wednesday, Apr 29, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Their transport hardly a smooth sailing

K.Lakshmi

Boat ride the only mode of transport for 15 villages along Pulicat lake to reach the mainland

— Photo: S.Thanthoni

NAY, IT’S NO PICNI: The upcoming bridge is set to change the lives of nearly 25,000 people in 15 villages in Pulicat, for whom boats are the only mode of transport now.

CHENNAI: Their lives revolve around boats, literally. For the fishing community living in a cluster of islands along the Pulicat lake, boats are the only access to reach out to daily needs even after the sanction of a project to construct a bridge across the lake a decade ago.

S. Ravi, a fisherman of Lighthouse Kuppam, said it took several decades for their demand for a bridge across the Pulicat waters to be implemented. Pointing to the bridge under construction, which on one end would connect Lighthouse Kuppam and on the other the mainland, he said “We are happy that our dream is taking shape. But, work on the bridge has made a slow progress over the past one year for various reasons.”

Boat ride is the only mode of transport for nearly 25,000 people in 15 villages to reach the mainland. “We have to use boats whether to go to market, schools or hospitals as most of these facilities are either in the mainland of Pulicat or Ponneri,” he said.

The upcoming bridge, which was sanctioned under the tsunami rehabilitation scheme, is being constructed by the Rural Road division of the State Highways Department. The project has been pending since 2000.

Work to construct the bridge, at an estimated cost of Rs.10 crore, commenced in November 2007. But, it met with an obstacle last year as the Forest Department objected that construction of bridge would affect the arrival of birds to the neighbouring bird sanctuary.

K. P. Basha of Arankuppam said that school children are the worst affected as they have to travel in boats, braving bad weather. “We have seven passenger boats to ferry the people. There have been several instances when the boats capsized due to overload. Villagers, including students, are used to travelling in soaked clothes to their destinations. We often lose our belongings in such instances,” he said.

Subramani of Sempachipallikuppam said “it is very risky to operate boats during monsoon. People suffer the most when there is medical emergency during night hours as the boats would be operated only till 10 p.m.”

Villagers want the project to be expedited for a quicker remedy to their long-pending problems.

Officials of the Highways Department said that the project would be completed in September or October this year. The elevated two-lane road bridge would have a width of 7.5 m. Footpath of 1.5 m width on either side were being provided for pedestrians. Of the 21 concrete spans, five have been completed so far.

Unlike other works, construction of this bridge was difficult as earth has to be dumped on the lake bed before carrying out piling work. “We have to wait till the sand gets consolidated, which often causes delay. A majority of piling work has been completed and the project is executed fast, in view of people’s difficulties,” an official said.

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