5 years on, battered Kulamangalam Main Road in Madurai to be relaid

MADURAI: Kulamangalam main road, the arterial road connecting Sellur and Kulamangalam, best known for its potholes and slush, may finally get a fresh layer of bitumen after five long years. The 5.5-kilometre road, part-owned by the city corporation and State Highways, has been ravaged by the work on underground drainage (UGD) pipeline as well as AMRUT drinking water pipeline. Decks are now clear for laying a new road with the city corporation almost wrapping up both these works.
The State Highways department couldn’t lay the road as the corporation work has been going on indefinitely. Residents of Annaiyur, Alangulam, Meenambalpuram, Sellur and Kulamangalam are the most affected by the battered road. They carreid out protests and submitted petitions to officials and political leaders several times but to no avail.
Sources said the corporation will hand over the 3.5-kilometre stretch under State Highways department between Meenambalpuram Nadagamedai and Panangadi checkpost to the highway officials in the next one week. The remaining two kilometres belonging to the it between Sellur bridge and Meenambalpuram Nadagamedai will be repaired at a cost of `1.58 crore, said City Engineer S Arassu. He said the road would have been handed over to SH department a month ago but the UGD work was delayed due to the summer rains. A senior SH official said that in the next two months an estimate will be sent and the work tendered to repair the stretch belonging to the department. Laying a new bitumen road on the stretch owned by the corporation will begin this month, said the City Engineer.
K Muttiah, president of Officers Town Residents’ Association, said, “Kulamangalam Main road is one of the important arterial roads connecting the city suburbs with thickly populated residential areas in Meenambalpuram and Sellur. Many schools are located on the stretch and it is a bumpy ride on the damaged road everyday for school children and residents.”
“The interior roads branching from Kulamangalam Main Road are also in bad shape. After repairing the road, the corporation should also take a look at these roads which are worse than the main road,” said Muthu Lakshmi, a resident of Meenambalpuram.