Opposing any move to reduce the width of the service lanes to be built between Palpannai and Thuvakudi along Tiruchi-Thanjavur National Highway, residents welfare organisations have urged the government to go by the 2019 directive of the Madurai Bench of the High Court on the issue.

Participating in a consultative meeting chaired by Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Minister for School Education, who represents the Tiruverumbur Assembly constituency, on Thursday, representatives of the organisations pressed for the expeditious completion of the land acquisition. Tiruchi MP Durai Vaiko and Collector V. Saravanan attended the meeting.

Although the width of the service road should have been 60 metres as per the original plan of the National Highways Authority of India, it was reduced to 45 metres subsequently by the State government, which had to acquire land for the project.

The High Court, in 2019, had accepted the opinion of the Chief Engineer, Construction and Maintenance, State Highways Department, that the width of service lanes could be 45 metres on normal stretches and ordered expeditious steps to build the service lanes.

However, the State Highways Department, which agreed to build the service lanes with NHAI funding, revised the ‘right of way’ of the service roads to 33 metres.

“Reducing the service road width to 33 metres is unacceptable and we urged the authorities to stop pursuing the idea. We urged the district administration to complete the land acquisition expeditiously and build the service lanes as per the High Court’s 2019 order ,” said S. Sakthivel, Chief Organiser, Federation for Retrieval of Tiruchi Palpannai-Thuvakudi Service Road, in a statement issued after the meeting. More than 1,300 petitions have been sent to the Union Minister for Highways and Road Transport Nitin Gadkari pressing the demand, Mr. Sakthivel added.

Though there was no official statement from the district administration on the meeting, Mr. Sakthivel said the Minister and the MP supported the plea for expeditious construction of the service roads.

Mr. Durai Vaiko, in a separate communication, said he requested the authorities to take expeditious action on the issue and offered all necessary support from his side.