MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday sought response from the state highways department on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition seeking direction to repair the 40 km bitumen road between Thoothukudi and Tiruchendur, and also lay a new two-way bypass road for the stretch for the benefit of devotees visiting the Tiruchendur Subramaniya Swamy temple.
In his petition, the litigant SMA Pon Gandhimathinathan of Thoothukudi stated that the aforesaid bitumen road is commonly used by people to reach the Tiruchendur temple and the Thoothukudi harbour. It also leads to Valli Cave in Kanniyakumari as well as Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
However, the said road is in a dilapidated condition for years now. Though patchworks are done every year during the Kanda Shasti festival season, they do not last long and the road once again gets damaged, making it an accident-prone area, he added.
A bench comprising Justices J Nisha Banu and S Srimathy directed the government counsel to get reply from the authorities concerned and adjourned the case to next week.