The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : State Highways Department's reply leaves residents seething

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 22, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

State Highways Department's reply leaves residents seething

Staff Reporter

Official reason for not constructing approach road unsatisfactory

Road not taken: The road overbridge under construction to replace the railway level crossing at Tambaram Sanatorium. — Photo K. Manikandan

TAMBARAM: Residents of East Tambaram are shocked over the State Highways Department's reply to the Chief Minister's Cell, justifying its reasons for not constructing an approach road from East Tambaram to the road overbridge under construction. .

The department is constructing a road over bridge near the Sanatorium railway station to replace a level crossing. The bridge has a landing near the GST Road on the west and the Chitlapakkam Second Main Road on the east.

Aggrieved over lack of proper access to the bridge, residents of East Tambaram wrote to Chief Minister's Cell seeking an approach road from the Bharatha Matha Street, East Tambaram.

Subsequently, the State Highways Department replied to the Cell, a copy of which was sent to the residents associations, listing out the reasons against constructing an approach road.

The department said since a proposal to construct a flyover at Rs. 35 crores to replace the railway level crossing at the GST-Velachery roads in Tambaram, there was no need for an access to the Sanatorium Bridge for East Tambaram residents.

Further, the flow of traffic was less on Bharatha Matha Street compared to Chitlapakkam Second Main Road. The Department said there was no possibility for the Railway authorities to share the costs of the project. An approach road from Bharatha Matha Street would involve rising costs and procedural delays due to land acquisition.

However, East Tambaram residents dismissed the reasons spelt out by the Highways Department as untrue. They said the argument that traffic on the Bharatha Matha Street was less compared to the Chitlapakkam Second Main Road was based on a traffic survey conducted in 2000-01, when the railway level crossing at MIT Gate had been closed due to work on the bridge.

They sought to know if a similar survey was carried out before the MIT Gate was closed. The residents argued that once the MIT Bridge was completed, most of the traffic flow would be through that bridge and not the one at Sanatorium — which is also acknowledged by a section of residents on Chitlapakkam Second Main Road.

Last week, during a routine inspection, senior Railway Ministry officials visited the construction site. After listening to the residents' grievances, the officials said they were "convinced about the necessity and feasibility of an approach road from the Bharatha Matha Street."

However, the officials said they could take steps only when the Highways Department approached them. They assured the East Tambaram residents that their pleas would be looked into.

Demonstration

Residents have staged a demonstration and undertaken a signature campaignin support of their demands. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have openly come in support of the residents.

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