The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Delay in culvert work causes hardship

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Monday, Apr 27, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Delay in culvert work causes hardship

Staff Reporter

Photo: M. Moorthy

SLOW PROGRESS: Work on the construction of a culvert on the Aranthangi Meemisal sector in Pudukottai district being executed in a tardy manner. —

PUDUKOTTAI: It has taken more than a year for the construction of a culvert on the Aranthangi-Meemisal highway.

With the culvert being a nerve-link for Meemisal and Avudaiyarkovil on this highway in the coastal block, the delay in its execution has been causing a great hardship to various sections of people including fishermen, college students and traders in and around Meemisal and Aranthangi.

The old culvert got weakened and collapsed a couple of years ago due to the plying of heavy vehicles laden with blue metal and sand. These materials were then transported to the coastal villages of the district for the execution of the World Bank-funded East Coast Road project implemented by the Tamil Nadu Road Sector Project.

Although the work on the ECR had been completed and thrown open to traffic in February, the execution of the work on the construction of the culvert has been progressing at a slow pace.

Highways Department officials say that the single-span culvert was about five metres in length and the work was taken up at an estimate of Rs. 24.20 lakh. The work should have been completed in a period of four to five months, around August last year.

Official sources said the work had resumed recently, following strict instructions to the contractor. It would be completed within a week’s time and thrown open to traffic, sources said. A ‘kutcha’ road has been set up temporarily beside the culvert facilitating the diversion of vehicles.

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