There will no longer be dangerous bends and turns on Collector’s Office Road branching off Panagal Road, according to a senior engineer from Zone 2 of the Madurai Corporation. The local body is expanding the road by acquiring land from Park Murugan Temple and Gandhi Museum to ensure that the road becomes an accident-free zone.
A sum of ₹ seven lakh was allocated for the expansion and tenders had been floated for straightening the bend here, he added. A tree had been chopped and auctioned by the local body.
Road safety activist S. Arun Kumar said that widening of the road between the western side of the museum and Rajaji Park Murugan Temple was a five-year-long demand. A total of 0.0172 square metres of land would be allotted by the Gandhi Museum for the purpose.
The approval for widening of this particular stretch was tricky because of the number of stakeholders involved, he added. “The members of All India Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in Delhi agreed to the allocation of land for the project after the Gandhi Museum secretary M.P. Gurusamy and Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao sent letters to the Centre. Since the shrine was built on its land, the Corporation initiated suo motu proceedings to allocate 0.0148.5 square metres of its land,” he said.
The activist added that the road was often vulnerable to accidents. With the straightening of the bend, two-way traffic along the stretch would flow smoothly, he said.
The widened road will be ready in three months, according to Corporation sources.