TIRUCHY: The space beside the Anna Nagar Uzhavar Sandhai road was in the spotlight for a long time as the corporation last year announced its plan to set up the city’s first food street there.
The project along the lines of the one by Karnataka’s Belagavi corporation envisaged a dedicated street offering to the public an array of cuisines at an affordable rate and in a hygienic manner. It was initially discussed during the January 2024 session of the Tiruchy corporation council and later presented in the 2024-25 civic body’s budget. With an outlay of Rs 2.2 crore, it was meant to be completed before the end of the current financial year.
However, even after almost a year, the authorities are yet to take any visible steps to implement the project, complain residents. Now the space allotted for the project is used for dumping the earth removed during road laying works and for stocking up on construction material for underground drainage work.
“It was an iconic project and would have turned the area into a major tourist spot. Many people would also come with families to spend their time there. The corporation should clarify whether it has dropped the plan,” said P Kumaraswamy, an elderly resident of Puthur.
Meanwhile, corporation sources said the delay in setting up the town vending committee (TVC) and financial constraints put the project on the back burner. “We are yet to get the verdict from the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on conducting the TVC election. The TVC is also crucial for the project as we have to set some regulations on setting stalls at the food street by unauthorised vendors. Currently, there are also financial constraints for allocating funds for such a project as the corporation is presently giving priority to road blacktopping and other essential works,” a highly placed source said.
Efforts will be taken to implement the project this year itself, the source added. Meanwhile, R Manickam of Cantonment said, “The corporation can either consider approaching the state or Union governments for getting the funds or set it up via public-private partnership mode. It may also approach restaurant owners and hoteliers in the city.”