Farmers and residents staged a protest at Gandhipuram here on Saturday against the proposal to establish a toll plaza on the Mettupalayam Road under the Neelambur by-pass scheme.
M.R. Sivasamy, State president of the Tamizhaga Vivasayeegal Sangam, P.R. Natarajan, Member of Parliament, G.K.S. Selvakumar, State secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, K. Ramakrishnan of Periyar Dravida Kazhagam, V. Ramamoorthy of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), R.R. Mohankumar, district secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and others led the protests.
In a release, Mr. Sivasamy said that the protestors had urged the Central Government and the National Highways Authority of India to give up the proposal to convert the existing road into by-pass road at three places.
The Government should also not accord permission for establishment of toll plaza on Mettupalayam Road, conversion of existing road into by-pass road at three places and should not acquire land for the purpose.
The Government should allow toll collection only from vehicles that used the by-pass and not from vehicles that moved on the main roads.
People were protesting for long against the toll collection at Aathupalam within the city, but to no avail. The problem should not repeat in the case of the Neelambur by-pass road project.
In the release, Mr. Sivasamy also said that the protestors would continue to resist the moves to have circuitous route for the by-pass to suit the interests of a few influential people. This proposal would increase the distance and also the cost of the project.
Modify
The Coimbatore Consumer Cause has appealed to the Chief Minister to intervene and modify the alignment for the proposed NH 67 bypass road from Kangeyampalayam to Mettupalayam.
Secretary of the consumer welfare organisation K. Kathirmathiyon has said in a release that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has designed the road with longer distance so that those using the existing road from Coimbatore to Mettupalayam will also pay a toll. The distance is more by 14 km. With a different alignment that will reduce the distance, the project cost can also be brought down by 40 per cent.
Previous District Collectors here have also suggested realignment of the bypass road.
The present Collector M. Karunagaran convened a meeting of all stakeholders and the participants said toll should not be collected for users of the existing road. However, the NHAI is going ahead with the proposal. “It is proceeding with the existing alignment unmindful of the interests of the people of the district,” he said.
