TENKASI
Even after the Chief Minister had announced in 2014 in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly to widen the road measuring 45.60 km between Tenkasi and Tirunelveli, the project seems to be moving at a snail’s pace, according to an activist Rm. Udayasooriyan of Avudayanoor near Pavoorchatram here.
Obtaining a response from the officials through the Right To Information (RTI) Act, the activist said that the State government had in September 2014 earmarked ₹ 480.60 crore for the project to be implemented with World Bank assistance and on the public-private partnership model.
The project, according to the Information Officer Dhanaseelan, had proposed to have wide roads measuring 24 to 35 metres all through the stretch beginning from the outskirts of Tirunelveli to Tenkasi. Depending on the rural and urban pockets, the widening of the roads would be carried out, the response said.
The officer had also informed that the project would have a service road at Pavoorchatram-Alangulam with 5 to 5.50 metre wide roads and a flyover running to 990 metres at Pavoorchatram.
The information obtained by the activist further revealed that though the TNRDC (TN Road Development Company) had invited tender and work was to commence, due to some technicalities, the contract had to be cancelled. Again, tenders were invited in the third quarter of 2019 for a second time and it was now in process of finalisation.
The activist said that when in many pockets in the country, villagers and farmers were opposing the widening of roads as in the process, the trees were felled and cultivable lands were acquired, in this case, the people were pressing the government officials to execute it without any further delay, he said.
The road from Tenkasi to Tirunelveli had to be widened at the earliest as the number of vehicles had risen manifold. It was a harrowing experience for many motorists to negotiate on many curves and dangerously narrow roads. The only solution to prevent accidents would be to widen the roads and enforce lane discipline, a traffic police officer said.
