The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to go in for a new alignment for the bypass road between Panchapur and Jeeyapuram as part of the Tiruchi-Karur section of the National Highway 67 development project.
The decision follows a direction from the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court asking the NHAI to avoid laying the bypass road across Kothamangalam, Kallikudi and Punganur irrigation tanks. The court had issued the order on a petition from farmers of the area who opposed the construction of the bypass road across the tanks on the ground that it would endanger their water sources and livelihood.
The bypass road would run from Panchapur on the National Highway 45 via Thayanur to Jeeyapuram on NH 67 and connect the Tiruchi-Madurai, Tiruchi-Dindigul and Tiruchi-Karur National Highways and become a part of a semi-ring road around Tiruchi.
Work on the construction of the bypass road was stopped following the court order. The NHAI has in-principle decided to go for a new alignment to circumvent the tanks though it would involve acquisition of some wet lands.
The change in alignment would only be between Panchapur and Thayanur, to avoid the tanks, of the 17-km-long bypass road. The new alignment would entail an additional length by about 2.2 km. A consultant, commissioned to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for the realignment, has submitted an “inception report,” NHAI sources said.
A public hearing will be held at Kallikudi on December 20 to hear the views of the locals on the proposed realignment of the bypass road. Depending on the views expressed at the hearing, the project report on the proposed realignment would be sent to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests for environmental clearance and the NHAI headquarters for approval.
NHAI sources expect that the project, if cleared, would take off by the end of March. The Tiruchi-Karur section of the NH 67 is being widened and strengthened by the NHAI under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project. Road widening works has been completed to a length of about 66 km of the total length of 79.8 km on this section. It is expected to be completed by March.
The High Court, while disposing the farmers' petition, had directed the NHAI to first consider the feasibility of avoiding the water tanks completely. If it was not feasible, then the road should at best be aligned along the boundaries of the tanks without affecting the inflow or outflow of water as suggested by the Director, Centre for Water Resources, Anna University, Chennai. (The court had previously ordered the constitution of an expert committee headed by the Director, Centre for Water Resources, to review the alignment of the road. The committee, after a field inspection, had submitted a report.) As a last resort, the authorities could align the highway by constructing a bridge across the tanks. But it could be done only after giving valid reasons for not choosing the first two options and in no eventuality a road should be laid across the tanks with culverts, the court had held.
