The welcome rains of December have left an unwelcome trail on the roads of Tirunelveli district. Post-rains, they have become a driver’s nightmare. The delay in undertaking repair and re-laying work adds to the woes of vehicle users.
After the northeast monsoon, almost all roads in the district are in bad shape, owing to lack of maintenance.
The Tirunelveli – Tenkasi highway has become unmotorable after the monsoon due to repeated water logging. Apart from accidents, this stretch causes frequent traffic snarls throughout the day between Pettai and Tirunelveli Junction.
“This stretch is a classic example of a poorly laid road. Starting from the western end of the Tiruvalluvar flyover near Tirunelveli Junction to Tenkasi, the 60-km-long road is in very bad shape. If the officials had ensured its quality even as it was laid, this would not have happened. Even after witnessing many accidents involving two-wheelers and causing untold hardship to thousands of roadusers, particularly Sabarimala pilgrims, no action has been taken even to fill up the potholes with gravel, ” said S. Sudhakar of Department of Biotechnology, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.
The Tiruchendur Road, north and south bypass and a small stretch passing through Palayamkottai head post office, all falling under the jurisdiction of Department of Highways, crave for immediate attention.
When the Department of Highways announced a couple of months ago that its personnel would remove all encroachments across the city to enable hassle-free vehicular movement, the announcement was translated into action only along the north and the south bypass.
“We’ve received administrative sanction for re-laying or repairing all damaged roads and the work will start very soon,” said a senior official of the Department of Highways.
On its part, the Corporation, which has planned to start the road repair and re-laying on an outlay of Rs. 8 crore, is yet to commence the work.
“Since proposals relating to this exercise are yet to be placed in the council for approval, we cannot commence the work,” said a senior official of the Corporation, informing that the tenders for road maintenance were likely to be floated before January-end.
