Rs.11 crore allotted for re-laying works in the State
CHENNAI: Part of the road network maintained by the Highways Department — state Highways and major district roads — has been battered by the recent rain.
“As of today 1,557 km of roads have suffered some damage. There have also been reports of landslips on some ghat roads. These have been cleared and there is no serious disruption of traffic on any of the ghat roads,” Highways Minister Vellakoil M.P. Saminathan said here on Tuesday.
“We have allocated Rs.11 crore for re-laying works in the State,” he said. There was no serious damage to bridges but water was overflowing at many causeways.
The direct road link between Virudhunagar and Jayakondam was cut off after a causeway across the Vellar was submerged. “There is a new bridge being built nearby. We have taken steps to speed up works on the bridge.”
There are 9,256 km of state highways and 9,451 km of major district roads in the State. This is in addition to the 4,483 km of national highways. Union Minister for Surface Transport and Shipping T.R.Baalu has already announced a package to repair and relay the national highways that were damaged.
Mr. Saminathan, in an interaction with The Hindu, said the major damage was in three districts inundated by torrential rain — Kanyakumari, Nagapattinam and Cuddalore.
In Kanyakumari the road network was affected from June because of the southwest monsoon. Though the department was trying to take up the work, there had been no let-up in rain to carry it out.
For now, the effort in the rain-battered districts was to fill up potholes and ensure that the roads were motorable.
The department had set up a special monitoring cell in the Chief Engineer’s office and was monitoring the situation, he said.
A senior officer was in-charge of the cell. Immediate action would be taken in the event of serious breaches.
Printer friendly
page Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
