TIRUCHY: Residents of the rockfort city are a disappointed lot as the Tiruchy road overbridge (RoB) remains an unfulfilled wish. The process to acquire 0.66 acres Defence Ministry land, which began years ago, to construct the last arm of RoB is yet to reach a favourable end.
The Tiruchy RoB, also known as Aristo bridge, was one of the major development projects proposed in the district to decongest traffic. Though the Highways Department since 2016 has managed to throw open the bridge arms connecting Tiruchy Central Bus Stand, Tiruchy Railway Station, Dindigul Highway and Old Madurai for traffic, the final arm, connecting Chennai bypass road, hit a roadblock with the department needing 0.66 acres of Defence Ministry land to complete the bridge. Several representations were made by officials and elected representatives to the Ministry over the years.
In the latest, Tiruchy MP Su Thirunavukarsar on Saturday met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and demanded to speed up the land transfer process. A senior official privy to the project affairs said, “We had proposed to provide several alternative lands in exchange for this 0.66 acres, but the Defence Ministry is yet to accede. A few months ago, the State Government decided to offer 0.66 acres in the police grounds adjacent to the Defence land.”
Anticipating the Ministry to approve this deal, earlier this year, the Highways Department also floated tender at a cost of `2.93 crore to build the RoB unfinished arm. “However, the Ministry is now seeking land in Hanumanthapuram village in Chengalpattu, which is closer to their firing range. The State government is ready to cede this land in exchange,” the official said.
Tiruchy native A Sathiyasevan says he has been seeing the RoB construction for over a decade now. “First of all, it is appalling how the government started the project without finishing land acquisition process. Then even after many years they are not able to strike a deal. Defence Ministers have changed and the government got re-elected, still the RoB remains incomplete,” he added.