Residents move High Court again seeking service lanes along Tiruchi-Thanjavur NH

The residents associations have been lobbying for building the 14.5-km-long service lanes since 2010; the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in 2019 asked the NHAI to build the service lanes

The Federation for Retrieval of Tiruchi-Palpannai-Thuvakudi Service Roads has moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court again seeking a direction on building service roads along the 14.5 km-long city stretch of the Tiruchi-Thanjavur National Highway expeditiously.

“We have filed a fresh public interest litigation in the High Court as there has been an inordinate delay in building the service lanes on the stretch despite the continued efforts of the federation,” said federation president S. Subramanian and general secretary A. Natarajan in a statement on Sunday.

The residents associations have been lobbying for building the service lanes since 2010, they said and pointed out that the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, in October 2019, directed the National Highways Authority of India to build the service lanes. “We want the directive to be implemented expeditiously to prevent continued loss of lives due to frequent accidents along the highway stretch,” Mr. Subramanian told The Hindu.

He pointed out that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, during the Lok Sabha election campaign, had promised that both an elevated corridor and service lanes would be built on the stretch. The two local Ministers too had promised steps to build a service lane; yet the project had not materialised due to some vested interests, he alleged.

“Let them first build the service lane. We are not against the elevated corridor. But without service lanes, the elevated corridor cannot be built,” Mr. Subramanain added.

The federation had decided to organise a demonstration and fast highlighting the demand. “We have decided to invite all political parties to participate in the protests,” he said.

Published - September 29, 2024 06:47 pm IST