The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Rs.12 crore to be sought for repairing bridges and culverts, says Minister

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Monday, Dec 24, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Rs.12 crore to be sought for repairing bridges and culverts, says Minister

Staff Reporter

ARIYALUR: A sum of Rs. 12 crore will be sought for permanent restoration of bridges and culverts damaged by the rain in Perambalur and Ariyalur districts, the Union Minister for Information Technology and Communications A. Raja said.

Addressing presspersons after visiting the rain-hit areas of these districts on Sunday, Mr. Raja said that a total of nine bridges and 26 culverts had developed minor damage, while 10 bridges had suffered extensive damage.

The Collectors, V. M. Xavier Chrisso Nayagam (Ariyalur) and Anil Meshram (Perambalur) would submit a report on the damage by the rains to the State Government on Monday.

Two bridges in V. Kalathur and Vadakkalur have been totally damaged, affecting vehicular traffic. Steps would be taken to construct a new bridge at V. Kalathur at an estimate of Rs.3.40 crores using the NABARD funds within a year.

A temporary bridge at an expenditure of Rs.2 lakh and a new bridge at an estimate of Rs.7 lakh would be constructed at V. Kalathur and Vdakkalur villages respectively.

Immediate action ordered

The Union Minister ordered the officials to take immediate action to check the overflow of waters from the Anaivari Odai to the road nearby and to plug the breaches of the Marudaiyar bridge.

Mr. Raja said that in Ariyalur district, paddy on 1,600 hectares; groundnut on 1,450 hectares; black-gram, chillies and cotton on 750 hectares had been damaged, according to a survey conducted by the Revenue and Agriculture Department officials.

The State highways, the District Roads and Rural roads to a cumulative stretch of about 303 km had been damaged in both districts.

Steps would be taken to distribute relief to the affected farmers and those rendered homeless following the rain.

The Superintendents of Police, Muthusamy (Ariyalur) and Prem Anand Sinha (Peramablur) and the MLAs, M. Rajkumar, S. Sivasankar, D. Amaramoorthy were among those who were present.

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