Causeway on Palar river connecting over a hundred villages washed away

CHENNAI: A major causeway connecting hundreds of villages by the Palar River in Kancheepuram district was washed away by the recent rains and releasing of water from a reservoir in Vellore district. People who depend on the causeway have requested officials construct a bridge.

B Parthiban, a resident of Vallipuram village near Thirukazhukundram, works at a private agro company in Keelavalm, and uses the causeway to reach his workplace about five km away. “I now have to travel to Mamandur to take the bridge on the Chennai- Bangalore NH and reach Keelavalam. It’s about 40 km, and takes about two hours every day in peak hour traffic,” said B Parthiban.

Hundreds of employees of sugar mills, private manufacturing units, farmers and drivers are also facing the same problem. “We must either go to Mamandur to cross the bridge over GST Road or towards ECR near Vayalur village. The GST road is 20 km from the causeway and ECR road is 19 km,” said S Arumugam, an activist.

G Harikrishnan, a college student in Chengalpattu, his brother and few others from Sahayanagar used to cross the causeway every day to reach their institutions. “Now we are attending online classes, but when schools and colleges reopen we will have to start by 7.30 am to reach our classes by 9 am. Even if the government plans to build a bridge it will take time and we are already planning to organise vehicles from each village to gather students to drop at the bus stand,” said Harikrishnan.

After the recent rains, over 12,000 cusecs of water from reservoirs in Vellore and Ranipet were released five days ago, which caused the flooding in over four districts. Speaking to TNIE, a senior official from the Kancheepuram Collectorate said a bridge has to be built by the State highways department. “We will look into the issue. Anyway, we have to wait until the rain stops and with the prediction of another depression, it is not the right time to decide,” said the official.