The Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) has resumed overhead electrification with restricted labour force in the last portion of the mainline section from Mayiladuthurai to Thanjavur after obtaining permission from Thanjavur and Nagapattinam district administrations. It has stocked materials at the project site.
“A few activities have begun by engaging a part of labourers and we follow safety norms,” a senior official said on Tuesday. The work, which was apace in the last leg of nearly 70-km stretch, came to a grinding halt when lockdown was announced.
The RVNL was electrifying the 228-km mainline section from Villupuram to Thanjavur via Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Mayiladuthurai and Kumbakonam.
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It had energised two stretches: Villupuram to Cuddalore and Cuddalore to Mayiladuthurai via Chidambaram.
The official said the project would be carried out in full-scale as and when all restrictions go and labourers, who had left for their home states, return. There were around 150 labourers at the project site where hand sanitisers and masks have been provided as a safety measure. The labourers were subjected to medical screening using thermal scanners and sensitised to follow social distancing norms.
‘The project would accelerate when more materials required for its execution keep coming from suppliers who were from northern States,’ the official added. The entire project is being executed at a cost of over ₹300 crore on this single line.
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