Service lanes along Thanjavur NH could soon become a reality
The State government has released funds for acquiring
necessary lands for laying service lanes along the city stretch of the
Tiruchi-Thanjavur National Highway, much to the relief of thousands of
residents who have been clamouring for the facility over the past few
years in the city.
In recent months, residents
living off the highway have been worried over the delay in the issue of
final land acquisition notification for laying service lanes along the
highway.
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and
Highways had issued a public notification under Section 3 (A) of the
National Highways Act last year, declaring its intention to acquire land
for laying service lanes for a distance of nearly 15 km from
Ariyamangalam to Thuvakudi. The State government too issued an order in
August 2011 sanctioning Rs.84.5 crore to be given towards compensation
for the land to be acquired for the service lanes along the highway.
However, there was some delay in the actual release of funds. Residents
had grown restive as the issue of the final notification under Sec.3
(D) (1) on the land acquisition had to be issued within a year of the 3
(A) notification. The Federation for Retrieval of
Tiruchi-Palpannai-Thuvakudi Service Roads, an umbrella organisation of
residents associations, formed to fight for the cause, has been lobbying
hard for the early issue of notification. The federation had previously
conducted a series of agitations demanding the construction of the
service lanes on the 14.5-km stretch since 2009-10 as the NHAI took up
the project to four-lane the Tiruchi-Thanjavur National Highway (NH-67).
According to sources, the State government has recently released the
funds paving the way for the issue of the final land acquisition
notification. “The State government has released the fund recently and
the final notification is likely to be issued soon,” P.Kumar, Member of
Parliament, Tiruchi, told The Hindu on Sunday.
“We were very happy that the fund has been released and we expect the
final notification to be issued soon. We understand that papers are also
being processed by the NHAI,” said S.Sakthivel, one of the organisers
of the federation.
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