The hopes of residents of Manapparai town, who are keeping their fingers crossed due to the inordinate delay in construction of a new road overbridge (ROB), got renewed with N. R. Sivapathi, Minister of School Education and Collector Jayashree Muralidharan inspecting the site on Friday.
They were assured to take initiative to resume and complete the work shortly.
Work on the construction of the ROB undertaken at a cost of Rs.20.53 crore on Tiruchi road, an important approach to Manapparai town, the second biggest town in the district, which commenced two years ago came to a grinding halt over the past few months.
The delay on the part of the revenue department in the acquisition of land for the work is said to be prolonging the work.
All political parties and various organizations took up the cause and organized agitations to draw the attention of the government to the to the inordinate delay.
They also presented petitions to the Collector and other top officials to resume the work. People arriving by buses proceeding to Dindigul from Tiruchi are dropped at the bypass in the night, and they have to walk 1.5 kms with luggage and children in toe to reach the town, the petitions to the Collector pointed out.
Mr. Sivapathi, who had come to attend a government function in Manapparai town on Saturday, inspected the incomplete ROB. Apart from Jayashree Muralidharan, M. Thambidurai, MP from Karur constituency, which included Manapparai Assembly seat, accompanied the Minister. When the locals complained about the inordinate delay, the Minister enquired with the Collector on the steps initiated to resume the work.
Later the Minister told presspersons that the proposal on the acquisition of adequate land has been forwarded to the State government for swift action. All steps will be taken to resume the work shortly to mitigate the sufferings of the people, he added.
