Residents take their service road demand to the streets

Project yet to take off despite Rs. 84 cr. allocation for land acquisition

April 27, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:49 am IST - TIRUCHI:

protest: Residents taking out a two-wheeler rally from Kattur demanding a service road along the Tiruchi-Thanjavur highway from Palpannai to Thuvakudi in Tiruchi on Sunday.— Photo: B. Velankanni Raj

protest: Residents taking out a two-wheeler rally from Kattur demanding a service road along the Tiruchi-Thanjavur highway from Palpannai to Thuvakudi in Tiruchi on Sunday.— Photo: B. Velankanni Raj

Sunday literally turned out to be a field day for a large number of residents living along the Tiruchi-Thanjavur highway, as they hit the ground with their two-wheelers to press for their long-pending demand of service roads on both sides of the NH 67 from Palpannai to Thuvakudi.

The residents, mostly young men and women, who were incensed by the absence of service roads along the four-way NH, built by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) about a few years, registered their protest by taking part enthusiastically in the rally.

Tense moments prevailed for sometime when the police denied permission for the rally. The organisers insisted that they would go ahead with the plan. They also cited that they had got court permission for holding the agitation. However, the police insisted them to produce the copy of the court direction.

Many protestors, who were waiting for about two hours on the road for clearance, raised slogans against the police. After a truce, the protesters took out the rally from Kattur to Thuvakudi.

Besides carrying placards and banners, they also distributed pamphlets to passersby and onlookers, highlighting the need for service roads.

The service roads on both sides of the NH 67 from Palpannai to Thuvakudi should have been laid when it was widened. However, it was put on hold because of political lobbying by a section of traders, who feared losing their space for the service road. Since the road-users, particularly two-wheelers and local residents, bore the brunt of the absence of a service road on the busy NH 67, they took to the streets on many occasions, demanding service lanes.

The agitators regretted that the scheme had been put on hold in spite of the Rs.84 crore allocation from the State government for acquiring land.

A gazette notification had also been issued in May 2014. Despite all these, the land acquisition for building the service road was yet to be started, they said.

K.Viswanathan, one of the organisers, said that numerous agitations had taken place since 2009 in demand of the road. It was unfortunate that the land acquisition was yet to take off in spite of government’s commitment. Increase in land cost could not be cited as reason for holding back the project.

The State government should immediately allocate an additional amount of Rs.111.5 crore for the project. The absence of service roads had claimed many lives.

Innumerable accidents have taken place between Palpannai and Thuvakudi since the road was opened for public use. Many accidents could have been avoided if the service roads had been built. The stretch was posing a real danger to the lives of the road-users, and the threat had to be seen to be believed, particularly during the peak hours in the morning and evening, Mr.Viswanathan added.

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