COIMBATORE: As many as 300 people from Ondipudur were detained by police on Tuesday morning when they tried to stage a rail roko protest demanding the construction of a railway overbridge.
The people said they have to travel an additional 4km to reach the main road as railways have announced the closure of the level crossing between Ramachandra Naidu Street and Suryanagar at the end of the year. Residents from Suryanagar, Sivalingapuram, Kamatchinagar, Senthilnagar, Meenakshinagar, Kannannagar, Gomathinagar, and Chinnasami Layout gathered near the railway level crossing (LC3) at Ondipudur and tried to get on to the tracks. As revenue and police officials’ talk with the people went in vain, police arrested the people and took them to a marriage hall.
V Deivendran, deputy secretary of the residents’ welfare association, said, “The state government had announced construction of an over bridge at LC3 at a cost of Rs 26.70 crore in 2011. The project was dropped in June 2023. Now, the railway department has announced that the level crossing would be closed by December end.”
“If the level crossing was closed, around 5,000 families residing in the locality need to detour by 4 km to reach Trichy MainRoad instead of the present length of 1 km,” he said and urged the government to build an over bridge.
S Subramanian, secretary of the residents’ welfare association said, “The revenue department conducted a consultative meeting in December 2021 with only residents of Ramachandra Naidu Street where the rail over bridge was proposed. As they opposed the plan presuming that they would be deprived of their land, the plan was cancelled in June 2023. Meanwhile, the railway department has announced for closure of the level crossing. If the LC was closed, we would be affected heavily.”
Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati, said, “Coimbatore Corporation had passed a resolution to construct a bridge at the place. Later, it was cancelled. Now, it has been decided to form an expert committee to conduct a traffic study at the place to arrive at an idea of whether the bridge is needed or not. Based on that further steps will be taken.”