TIRUCHY: “Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, who promised us a service road between Palpannai and Thuvakudi in the past two elections, has failed to follow through. We worked for him and made him win with a 45,000-margin but now we know we backed the wrong person,” said S Sakthivel, chief organiser, Federation for Retrieval of Tiruchy Palpannai-Thuvakudi Service Road.
Speaking to reporters in Tiruchy, he said that the 14-km stretch of Palpannai-Thuvakudi road has so far claimed over 5,000 lives as it’s one of the busiest roads with more than 1 lakh people commuting every day.
“We’ve been organising a signature campaign for the past 3 months demanding a service road. As many as 38 welfare associations functioning along the stretch have attached their petitions. We’ll soon send the combined petition to the CM,” he said.
Sakthivel pointed out that the CM had recently announced an elevated corridor between Palpannai and Thuvakudi. “The service road would cost less than Rs 1,000 crore but the elevated corridor would cost Rs 3,000-4,000 crore. Over 70% land acquisition has been completed. We want a service road for our safety and not the elevated corridor which would not help residents living along the stretch,” he opined.