COIMBATORE: Around 100 people, including
residents of Avarampalayam and Ganapathy, gathered at the district revenue office (south) on the State Bank Road on Tuesday morning emphasising that the
Tamil Nadu government is yet to take any efforts on building a
rail overbridge at the Avarampalayam railway crossing.
They said the first step of acquiring
land to lay roads on the sides of the bridge had not been done.
The residents under the banner Avarampalayam Ganapathy Railway Overbridge Protest Committee, who gathered at the office around 10.30am and staged a protest till noon, said after they went on a hunger strike on October 30 last year, the district administration and railway officials had promised to start construction of the rail overbridge by December.
The railways would construct the portion of the bridge which comes under their land and the Coimbatore Corporation would construct the roads leading to the bridge and the roads on the sides of the bridge.
Residents said the railways stuck to its promise of beginning the construction in December. “Work is going on at a brisk pace and the structure has been erected. They are confident of completing their portion by September,” said P Devarajan, a resident. “However, the state government has not made any move to start its portion of work which includes laying the roads,” he said.
“The land price has been fixed at Rs 3,500 per square foot. All the landowners are willing to give their land. The documents are ready, and owners have given letters expressing their willingness to the DRO,” said Devarajan. “However, the government has not taken it forward after that,” he said.
(Representative image)