Traders, motorists urge Tiruchi Corporation to speed up UGD work on Madurai Road

The motorists, traders, and residents have urged the Tiruchi City Corporation to expedite the underground drainage work on Old Madurai Road

The motorists, traders, and residents have urged the Tiruchi City Corporation to expedite the underground drainage work on Old Madurai Road in the city.

While the Corporation has begun inviting applications for providing UGD connections in Ward Nos 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, and 44, there are areas where final stage of UGD works are going on. The Old Madurai Road is a case in point. The busy arterial road houses a number of commercial complexes, furniture showrooms, electric, and electronic trade houses. To minimise the sufferings of the traders and motorists, the Corporation has taken up UGD work at the last stage after covering other areas. The road has been dug up at various locations for laying pipe line.

Since the start of the UGD work, the road has been witnessing traffic snarls. The number of vehicles plying on the road is said to have doubled after the closure of the Fort Station Road for building a flyover. The vehicles from Thillai Nagar, Woraiyur, and Thennur are now diverted to the Old Madurai Road. With the road dug up on both sides, the vehicles move at a snail’s pace. The narrow stretch of the road from Natharsha Pallivasal to Holy Cross College is adding pressure to the issue.

“We do not have space even to walk along the road as cars, buses, two-wheelers, and others are stuck in traffic jams frequently. The motorists have to move their vehicles patiently. The work should be taken up on a war footing considering the importance and narrow nature of the road,” says V. Venkatachalam, a trader on Madurai Road.

“With a large number of vehicles on the road, it takes at least 15 to 20 minutes to drive past the two-km stretch,” says K. Shanmugam of Thillai Nagar, a regular user of the road.

A senior officer of the Corporation told The Hindu that the work on the Madurai Road had almost been completed with the mobilisation of men and machinery. The civic body was seized of the issue and would complete the work in a few days.

However, traders and motorists fear that the chaotic situation would continue until the relaying of the road, which is under the control of the State Highways Department. They urge the department to relay the road as early as possible.