Widening the 27.2-km-long ring road into a four-way lane would decongest traffic to a great extent, said Mayor V.V. Rajan Chellappa here on Saturday.
Speaking on the occasion to distribute “thaalikku thangam” to 731 beneficiaries, he said that for the announcement made by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the people of southern districts would be ever thankful. At a time, when vehicle population rose up manifold, the CM’s proposal granting Rs.200 crore had come at the most appropriate time, he noted. Similarly, the construction of two overbridges in the cramped Temple City connecting the north and south across the Vaigai would bring in much-needed relief, the Mayor said.
A total of 731 beneficiaries received marriage assistance and gold for “Mangalsutra” from Cooperation Minister ‘Sellur’ K. Raju and Mr. Chellappa. Mr. Raju said that the Chief Minister had initiated infrastructural development works in the State at a cost of Rs.15 lakh crore under the ambitious “Vision 2023.”
“Students are provided with free laptops, school bags, footwear, books, uniforms and several others. The unique schemes launched by the Chief Minister will definitely find a place in history,” he said. Mr. Raju also noted that 1.85 crore people in the State got free rice.
Madurai South MLA R. Annadurai said that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) welcomed the announcement to convert the ring road into a four-lane road. “Apart from Sri Meenakshi Government College for Women, the city does not have a noteworthy government college. A government arts and science college should be established here,” he insisted. On Saturday, 2924 grams of gold for “Mangalsutra” worth Rs 77.48 lakh and marriage assistance of Rs 3.65 crore were distributed to the beneficiaries.
Collector L. Subramanian, special representative of the Tamil Nadu government in New Delhi S.T.K. Jakkaiyan, Member of Parliament R. Gopalakrishnan, MLAs A.K. Bose, M. Muthuramalingam, R. Sundarajan and others took part in the function.