Condemning an inordinate delay in settling compensation for land acquired by State Highways Department for constructing the much-awaited Rs. 59.6-crore rail overbridge across three railway gates and its failure to lay approach roads to the subways built by the railways, residents blocked Siluvathur Road at Balakrishnapuram here on Monday.
When highways officials started work to erect pillars on the road between Karur and Chennai level crossings, residents of Masilamanipuram and Balakrishnapuram prevented the workforce with earthmovers from going ahead with the one-km-long bridge work.
They said that the approach roads to the subways should have been laid before closing the prime road that connected schools, central bus stand and markets. Residents of 70 villages up to Senthurai had been using this road and its sudden closure would paralyse normal life, they said.
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The railways laid a concrete road along Palani track up to an unmanned level crossing when it closed Dindigul-Palani railway track. “With no alternative path, residents of Balakrishanpuram, Kollamputhur, Azhagampatti and Masilamanipuram will have to travel an additional 10 km to reach schools that are 500 metres away from Balakrishnapuram and to the GH and central bus stand situated two km away. Already, fire service vehicles and ambulance vans struggle to come to our area,” said A. Jayabal, secretary of Masilamanipuram Residents’ Association.
The railways completed its part of work on constructing the limited use subways and full-fledged subways across Karur, Chennai and Palani tracks in record time. But the public could not use them since State Highways had not laid approach roads to the subways, the protesters said.
Later, they withdrew the agitation after the highways officials stopped the work and assured them that they would take up their appeals to the knowledge of their higher-ups.
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Another work
Another rail overbridge connecting Round Road Pudur and Anumantha Nagar also remains incomplete. The work is going at a slow pace. This road was closed for traffic on April 10, 2014.