CHENNAI: The two-decade wait of around 20,000 residents of Pasiyavaram island in Pulicat for safe mobility during the monsoon is finally over as the state highways department has completed the bridge work over the lake. Chief Minister MK Stalin is likely to commission the bridge over the lake soon.
According to sources, Stalin will inaugurate it virtually along with several other developmental projects. The work on the bridge, connecting the island and Chennai-Pulicat road, had begun in 2020 and was supposed to be over by 2022, but got delayed due to various reasons.
When TNIE visited the island on Wednesday, workers were seen doing finishing touches. Heavy machinery was deployed to remove the debris dumped in Pulicat lake to create a temporary platform for bridge construction.
The island has five villages — Sathankuppam, Edamani, Edamani Colony, Rahmat Nagar and Pasiyavaram — falling in two panchayat limits. The population, mostly fishermen, is put to hardship during every monsoon. The island has two primary schools, a temple and pucca roads, but no hospital.
The water level in the lake steadily rises from November as the region receives good rainfall and surplus water from Arani river also gushes in. The temporary road, which the islanders use for daily commute, gets submerged when the monsoon peaks. For several days, the inhabitants get stranded.
The state highways department had proposed to construct the bridge, but the project was stonewalled on multiple occasions due to environmental concerns. Finally, the Union Environment Ministry had granted Coastal Zone Regulation (CRZ) clearance in 2018, and the project commenced in 2020.
The state government had accorded administrative sanction of `15 crore under the Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme in 2007-08 and later revised it to `18.2 crore in 2015. The length of the bridge is 432 m and width is 8.5 m.