The chorus for swift government action to tackle infrastructure bottlenecks affecting free flow of traffic in and around Coimbatore seems to be getting louder. The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in particular has bemoaned the delay in land acquisition that is holding up the start of even approved projects.

The chamber has urged the State Government to finalise the design for the Gandhipuram flyover without underpass and take up the flyover work quickly. (The foundation for the flyover was laid more than two years back.)

In a memorandum submitted to Niranjan Mardi, Principal Secretary, Highways Department, Tamil Nadu, the chamber President, R.R.Balasundharam, said that the number of vehicles in the city has been witnessing a phenomenal growth with about 5,000 new registrations every month. The city already has more than 9 lakh vehicles.

He said as the railway lines sliced through the city, there were nearly 17 level crossings. But there were only 5 flyovers and 3 underpasses, leaving the 9 level crossings with gates, whose frequent closures led to traffic snarls. Though in some cases construction of ROBs were approved, work could not commence due to delays/litigation over land acquisitions.

Balasundharam mentioned that the work on the ROBs (railway over bridge) at Peelamedu, on Thanneer Pandal Road and on SIHS Colony Road, all between Irugur and Peelamedu railway stations, at Irugur, on Ganapathy-Avarampalayam Road and on Singanallur Vellalur Road have been delayed due to land acquisition related issues.

While proposal of an ROB on Rathinapuri Road between Peelamedu and Coimbatore North station was pending with the Government, work on ROB on Nanjundapuram Road between Irugur and Podanur stations was progressing very slowly. The Highways Department was delaying execution of the approach roads to the ROB near Eachanari on Coimbatore- Pollachi Road.

Referring to the road works, he wanted the Principal Secretary, Highways, to finalise the Gandhipuram flyover project design without underpass and take up the work with a view to easing the congestion in Gandhipuram, where three bus stands were located and which was emerging as a major commercial hub of the city.

The government was also urged to take action for the formation of the bypass road connecting Neelambur on Avinashi road and Narasimmanaickenpalayam on Mettupalayam Road and the recently announced bypass road connecting Madukkarai (on Coimbatore-Kochi NH) and Narasimmanaicken Palayam on Coimbatore- Mettupalayam road.

C.R. Swaminathan, Convenor of Chamber Infrastructure Committee, R. Raveendran and P.R. Natarajan, Coimbatore MP, accompanied Balasundharam, to submit the memorandum to Niranjan Mardi.

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