Rebuild causeway across Palar: Ryots

CHENGALPATTU: After a major causeway connecting Udhayambakkam and Padalam across the Palar River in Chengalpattu was damaged five years ago, the residents, mainly farmers from the villages around the river, have requested the authorities to rebuild the causeway to facilitate easy movement across the river.

Hundreds of farmers belonging to the 10 surrounding villages, including Udhayambakkam, PV Kalathur, Othivakkam own sugarcane farms in the area surrounding the river. When the causeway built in 1992 was destroyed in the rains, a temporary causeway was built in 2013 so the farmers could take their crops across the river to the sugarcane mills in Padalam.

However, the temporary causeway was damaged during 2015 after which the movement between either sides of the river came to a halt, putting the public through a lot of hardship. The farmers have been forced to travel over 15 km in roundabout way for the past seven years to sell their crops, which has forced them to switch to various other crops instead of sugarcane.

The farmers claimed that despite several petitions to various authorities, including the Collector, the causeway has not been rebuilt. They once again requested the Collector to rebuild the causeway.