Ramanathapuram: The people of Kooriyur near here have opposed to Southern Railway building a subway under an unmanned level crossing on the way to the village, as they fear that retaining walls, abutting the subway, would block free flow of water into supply channels flanking the track, and flood the village and their agricultural lands during rainy seasons.
As the railways began casting work to build the subway at a cost of Rs. 2 crore, the villagers, led by K. Udayar, the village head, gathered at the level-crossing on Wednesday and decided to petition the district administration to stop the work.
They said the surplus water from the Big Tank, Achundanvayal and Muthunal during rainy season would enter Nochivayal tank and reach the level-crossing point, from where water would flow through the channels on both sides. The retaining wall would stop the free flow of water, they said, and urged Collector S. Natarajan to take up the issue with the railways and stop the work.
As they were staging the protest at the level-crossing, local MP A. Anwar Raja held talks with them and assured them that he would take up the issue with the Railway Minister and the Railway Board later this month.
V. Baskaran, Senior Section Engineer (Constructions), Madurai Railway Division, who was present at the spot, said subways were being constructed under all unmanned level-crossings as part of the policy drawn by the railways to avert accidents.
He said manned level-crossing at this point was not possible as the train-vehicle unit density was very less. As the subway was being constructed with a height of 4.5 metres, it would allow all types of vehicles, including the harvesters, to pass through, he said.
The 6.5-metre-wide subway would allow free flow of traffic, he said, adding the railways also offered to provide facilities to drain out water during rainy seasons and ensure that the area was not inundated.
