MADURAI/RAMANATHAPURAM: In commemoration of the Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar Jayanthi festival and Gurupujai event in Madurai, Ramanathapuram and other districts turn festive on Monday.
TN Chief Minister MK Stalin, BJP TN president Annamalai and various other political leaders as well as a large number of people thronged to pay respect at the Muthuramalinga Thevar Memorial in Pasumpon village in Ramanathapuram and Thevar statue in Goripalayam in Madurai.
The 116th birth anniversary and 61st guru pooja festival of freedom fighter Muthuramalinga Thevar is commemorated on October 30. From garlanding Thevar statues and portraits to the Mulaippari procession, a large number of people took part in paying respects to Thevar across the state.
Madurai and Ramanathapuram districts turned festive for the event due to which security was beefed up. In Ramanathapuram district, more than 12,000 police have been deployed in and around the district.
TN Chief Minister M K Stalin along with Ministers Moorthy, Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, I Periyasamy and several other ministers paid floral tributes to Thevar statue in Goripalayam in Madurai and also at the memorial in Pasumpon in Ramanathapuram. Other leaders including Vaiko, Annamalai, Sasikala, and O Panneerselvam have also visited Goripalayam to pay respects.
TN Chief minister during his visit to Madurai inaugurated the construction of flyovers by flagging off on Monday. In a release, TN CM stated that a flyover, grade separator and high-level flyover will be constructed at various places to solve the traffic congestion in Madurai city. Madurai – Thondi Road (SH 33) is an important state highway in Madurai district. The total length of this highway is 19.20 km and it is maintained by Madurai (Highways) Construction and Maintenance West Subdivision.
The grade separator on Madurai – Thondi road is a total length of 1100 meters with 2 abutments and 28 piers. The width of the bridge is 17.2 meters (dual carriageway 7.5 meters and centre median 1.2 meters) with 0.5 meter crash barrier on both sides and the approach of the bridge is 1 in 30 gradient on both sides.
The two-lane service road (2x7.50 m wide) is planned to be expanded on both sides of the side and stormwater drains are to be constructed. Also, traffic signals will be removed and roundabouts will be constructed at the Collectorate, Aavin and Apollo Junction.
Once the bridge is completed and operational, the traffic congestion at this Aavin junction will be greatly reduced. The works are to be carried out at the cost of 150.2 crores in Madurai.