Question mark over Chennai Port-Maduravoyal link road as Chennai Traffic police remove barricades

Chennai:

It could be a blow for Chennai Port – Maduravoyal elevated link road project and a relief for Chennai commuters travelling in busy Koyambedu-Maduravoyal stretch in Poonamalee Road after Chennai Traffic police removed barricades erected at some places for the smooth flow of traffic.

While National Highway Authority of India Chief General Manager (Technical), Tamil Nadu and Kerala I G Reddy could not be contacted for his reaction by Express, a top Chennai Traffic police official said that traffic police is shrinking the space to ease traffic congestion in the stretch.

Interestingly, the move by Traffic Police puts a question mark on the fate of the Rs 1,800 crore project which is lying idle for nearly seven months and is resulting in loss of crores of rupees to the exchequer. The project came to a halt when Water Resources Department directed NHAI to stop work on the elevated road project stating that that pile caps constructed for the project obstructed the free flow of water in the Cooum. It also stated that the alignment of the elevated road was not along the bank of the river but on the waterways.

“The project has been lying idle and causing inconvenience to the people. The barricades have been removed only on those areas where the road condition is good,” said Sanjay Arora, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Chennai.

“It is done after taking into account the hardship faced by the people and to ease traffic congestion in the stretch,” he said.

The barricades were removed as Soma Construction officials have gone on leave as no work was being carried out for the last six months, sources said. Interestingly, neither Port Trust officials nor NHAI officials are aware of the developments.

However, the move by traffic police could be a blessing in disguise for commuters who were caught in traffic snarls with the development works carried out by Metro Rail and state highways department. “The traffic used to move at a snail’s pace in this stretch and now with the removal of barricades the congestion is somewhat eased,” said a commuter.