Industry associations in Coimbatore have demanded construction of a flyover across Singanallur junction here.
Following reports that the proposed project may be dropped by the State government, industry associations have sought intervention by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to implement the project.
“For those who cross the junction every day to visit factories or to go to college, it is an ordeal. We need to wait for at least four cycles of the traffic signal before crossing the junction. There is a long line of educational institution buses at the signal between 8 a.m. and 8.45 a.m. On the eastern side of the road, vehicles start slowing down from Shanthi Social Services and on the western side, vehicles wait from Venkatlakshmi Kalyana Mandapam. This results in waste of time every day,” said industrialist A.V. Varadararajan.
Vanitha Mohan, vice-chairperson of Kongu Global Forum, said the Singanallur junction was a major bottelneck for traffic movement on Trichy Road. “People are struggling on a daily basis at the junction. The public voice is more aware of the ground situation and hence it should be listened to,” she said.
According to J. Sathish, director of the Forum, the flyover project was approved and the Central government had sanctioned funds too. Tenders were called for and to put it on hold at this stage was a matter of concern. It was said that the State government wanted to put the project on hold till the alignment was finalised for the proposed Metro project for Coimbatore.
“When there are flyovers at Ramanathapuram junction and Ondipudur, the same decision could be taken for Singanallur too. All industry associations wrote to the District Collector two months ago demanding the flyover project,” he said.
Singanallur junction was a black spot and it required a flyover. The Metro was a larger project for the city and would take a longer time to be implemented. The two projects should not be combined now, they said.
B. Sriramulu, president of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, said the Chamber was trying to meet the Chief Minister over a set of demands, including the flyover project. There was no clarity on the status of the project and the Chamber was trying to get it, he said.
