The Golden Rock branch of the Consumer Protection Council, Tamil Nadu, has urged the district administration to mobilise the required funds for building an underpass across the four-lane Tiruchi-Chennai by-pass highway near the G.Corner in the city from the MPs and MLAs Local Area Development Scheme.
Representation to Collector
In a representation to the District Collector, H.Ghouse Baig, secretary of the branch, pointed out that the National Highways Authority of India, which took up the four-lane project, had not provided an underpass at the G.Corner Junction, which serves as the gateway the Central Railway Workshop and for several residential colonies in Golden Rock and beyond.
Difficulty to motorists
In the absence of an underpass to cross over the highway, residents of the area and employees of the workshop have to go around the service lanes to cross over the highway. Motorists were also experiencing difficulty in negotiating the stretch as heavy vehicles were moving at high speed after the four-laning of the highway.
The Railways was prepared to provide the required lands for building the underpass. However, the NHAI has asked the Railways to bear the cost of the construction of underpass, estimated at around Rs.13 crore.
The Secretary of the Consumer Protection Council, Tamil Nadu, S.Pushpavanam had recently met the chairman of the NHAI to impress on the organisation the need for building the underpass, Mr.Baig said.
However, the NHAI had contended that it cannot provide the underpass at its expense as the area came under the jurisdiction of the Corporation.
If the district administration was ready to bear the cost, the NHAI would be ready to provide the underpass, he said and appealed to the Collector to mop up the required funds from the MPLAD and MLALAD scheme in the interest of the public.
