The recent sanction of a new bypass road connecting the Tiruchi-Thanjavur NH 67, Tiruchi-Pudukkottai-Karaikudi NH 210 and the Tiruchi-Madurai NH 45B has been received with relief by sub-contracting units of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited functioning at SIDCO Industrial Estate, Mathur.
The bypass sanctioned under the four-laning project of the Tiruchi-Karaikudi section of NH 210 by the National Highways Authority of India would mean hassle-free transportation of materials from the several sub-contracting units at Mathur to the BHEL, without having to take a circumlocutory route via TVS Toll Gate, Palpannai and Tiruverumbur. Though the alignment has not yet been decided, industrialists hope that the NHAI will take into consideration the plan proposed a few years ago for linking Asoor on the outskirts of Thuvakudi with Mandaiyur near Mathur on the Tiruchi-Pudukkottai Highway. Industry associations exude confidence that subcontracting units of BHEL could sprout in large numbers in the industrial belt of Viralimalai since the bypass will also link Panjappur on the Tiruchi-Madurai Highway.
More importantly, the bypass will help in substantially reducing the density of traffic along the highly congested stretch of Palpannai and Thuvakkudi, according to industrialists. Residents of the stretch who are highly agitated over the four-laning of the accident-prone 15-km stretch sans service lanes in the Tiruchi-Thanjavur highway, and are keenly awaiting the NHAI’s response to the proposal the State Government forwarded recently. The bypass, a functionary of a residents’ welfare association pointed out, can never be an alternative to service lanes.
With the BHEL expanding phenomenally what with the addition of the second manufacturing unit, north-bound vehicles transporting materials from the BHEL still have to use the urbanised stretch. It is to address this factor that the BHEL Small Industries’ Association has voiced the need for a bypass link branching off from Tiruverumbur to the Tiruchi-Chennai highway. The BHELSIA has already made a representation to the Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin seeking the bypass link, said Rajappa Rajkumar, the association president.
According to Mr. Rajappa, till the new bypass linking Thuvakkudi with Mathur is created, the authorities could step in by facilitating a temporary route for transportation of materials between BHEL and Mathur via Anna Nagar locality of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board.
