The railway’s plan to undertake maintenance work at Kulavanigarpuram level crossing scheduled for Wednesday (July 29), a working day, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. has invited wrath of the public, particularly from parents of schoolchildren.
The Southern Railway has put up two small boards at the manned level crossing about the maintenance work. Since buses going to Tuticorin and Tiruchendur, thousands of two-wheelers, autorickshaws and cars cross this railway gate to reach Vaeinthaankulam new bus stand and old bus stand at Palayamkottai, this point is busy between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Hence, the announcement came as a rude shock to the residents.
After repeated appeals and petitions from the public, MLAs and MPs, the Southern Railway, in association with the State government’s Department of Highways, decided to construct a rail overbridge at this point. However, work on this project never took off following a court stay based on a petition filed by traders and residents whose shops and houses are likely to be affected.
One of the parents from Melapalayam, S. Mohamed Ibrahim, who crosses this spot four times a day for dropping his children in a school at Palayamkottai in the morning and taking them back in the evening, said that the proposed maintenance could have been carried out on a holiday or during night when vehicular movement would be less.
“The delay in constructing the bridge causes traffic snarls throughout the day at this point and hence the maintenance could have been scheduled for a Sunday,” he said.
Van driver Prabhu, who used to take schoolchildren, also echoed a similar opinion, saying that the diversion of traffic via Perumalpuram or South Bypass Road and then via Vannarpet would lead to chaos everywhere.
Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus conductor A. Anantharaj said that any diversion of buses through narrow roads in Anbu Nagar and Perumalpuram would make the situation worse on Wednesday, particularly during peak hours.
Postponed
Additional Divisional Railway Manager R.V.B. Babu said in Madurai in the late evening that the work had been postponed to August 2 (Sunday) to cause minimum inconvenience to the public. However, he clarified that the work could be taken up only during daytime.
(With inputs from Special Correspondent in Madurai)
