New Rs 55 crore 4-lane road from Tiruttani Murugan temple to Chittoor Road: Minister Velu

CHENNAI: A new four-lane road would be laid to Tiruttani Murugan temple from Chittoor Road at a cost of Rs 55 crore, announced PWD and Highways Minister EV Velu on Wednesday.

After holding an inspection at Tiruttani for the proposed second road project along with HR&CE Minister PK Sekarbabu and Minorities Welfare Minister SM Nasar, Velu said the newly proposed four-lane road would run for two km in length. He added that the ghat section of the road that runs to 1.1 km would have four-lane width.

The minister said that for laying the new road, the State Highway Department would require 0.52 hectares of government poromboke land, 2.74 hectares of private land, and 2.72 hectares of forest land.

“To acquire forest land, we have to give in return two times the land area to be acquired. We have given the alternative land to the forest department officials. We have allocated Rs 1.92 crore for the land acquisition,” he said.

Velu said that after getting permission from the Forest Department, the land would be taken over for the highway work. “The HR&CE Minister has requested us to invite tender for the new road project in February and plan to complete the works by December. After getting approval from Chief Minister MK Stalin, we will complete the second road works to Tiruttani by December,” he said.

Velu said that there was a demand for constructing a new bypass road for the Siruvaipuri Murugan temple in Tiruvallur district, as a large number of pilgrims visiting the temple was causing traffic congestion, which affected the devotees and also the public.

“To construct a new road, we have to acquire land near the temple. We will try to construct a new bypass road for Siruvaipuri temple by December, as we have completed the inspection along with the department officials,” he said.