Jeeva & V Ayyappan TNN
Nov 12, 2008
Chennai: Imagine an ambulance or a fire tender in an emergency having to take a detour of about 10 km to reach an area which is just a km away. This has been the fate of the residents of Thandurai, Pattabiram, in the suburbs. The residents have to cross two railway level crossings to reach the main road leading to the city. As the gates at both level crossings are not opened simultaneously, motorists have to wait at both places. To get rid of this problem, the highways department and railways jointly started to construct a road overbridge at a cost of Rs 14 crore in March 2005. But the project is yet to be completed though it was scheduled for completion in September 2006. While motorists have to wait for the gates to open, things are more difficult for pedestrians as they have to climb about ten steps to cross the railway track leading to Pattabiram Military Siding Station to reach the other side. “The gates are opened for just 10 minutes and this is too little a time for motorists and pedestrians to cross,’’ said Sadasivam, a resident. The railways in its reply to an application filed under the Right to Information Act by T Sadagopan, a resident, last year said the work would be completed by March 2008. Now, the residents hope it will be completed at least by March 2009. On completion of the bridge, people from the Madras-Tirupathi High Road will have to travel just eight km to reach Poonamallee High Road. Now, they are forced to travel about 13 km via Avadi. Once the bridge is constructed, bus services from Pattabiram to Sriperumbudur can also be operated via Thandurai. The work was suspended for about a year and officials kept the residents in the dark about the delay. But now, officials said they had resumed the work. “We could not complete the work as per the schedule mainly due to the delay in finalising the acquisition of private land to lay service roads on both sides of the bridge,” official sources in the highways department said. Southern railway chief public relations officer Neenu Ittyerah said the delay was due to the failure of contract, probably because of the increase in steel prices. So a fresh tender was floated and now the work was in progress, she said.
BEHIND SCHEDULE
The Rs 14 crore-project to construct a road overbridge at Pattabiram was scheduled for completion in September 2006 In reply to a Right to Information petition, the railways said that the work would be completed by March 2008. It is still in progress.
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