Stalin flags 'bad' condition of parts of Chennai-Bengaluru highway to Gadkari

Stalin demanded that Gadkari expedite the six-laning of the road and maintain the stretch in a good condition

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday wrote to Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari flagging the “bad condition” of the Sriperumbudur-Walajapet section of the Chennai-Bengaluru highway and demanded that he expedite the six-laning of the road and maintain the stretch in a good condition.

In the letter, Stalin also told Gadkari that he had to plan his recent visits to a few districts by train since the conditions of roads connecting to Chennai were “so bad”. Stalin further expressed his disappointment with the reply by the minister to a specific question raised by DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran in Parliament. Stalin had taken the train to Vellore on February 1 for a review meeting.

“…it was unfortunate that an impression that the State Government was not cooperating with NHAI has been underlined in your reply in Parliament. I assure you that it is not true and we have been trying our best to expedite all major infrastructure projects without discriminating between projects undertaken by the State and Union Governments,” Stalin told Gadkari.

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Stalin asked Gadkari to instruct NHAI officials to look into the very specific request raised by Maran with regard to the Sriperumbudur-Walajapet section of NH-4 where the six-laning work is in progress.

“The works have been held up due to contractual issues between contractors and NHAI and hence the condition of the existing road is very bad,” the CM told the minister, reminding him the Madras High Court had reduced the toll fees at Sriperumbudur and Chennasamudram toll plazas to 50 per cent due to such poor maintenance.

“The poor road conditions and the difficulties faced by road users have caused a major dent in the reputation of NHAI, which otherwise has been doing an excellent job in our state,” Stalin said. The Sriperumbudur-Walajapet section of the highway is a nightmare for commuters as the road work has increased the travel time from Chennai to Vellore by 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Stalin also told Gadkari that the Chennai Port-Maduravoyal Elevated Expressway Project has been revived by extending every possible help, including granting exemption from royalty on aggregates. “Similar concessions, which were never given in the past, have been extended to other major NHAI projects. Based on the requests from your side, the validity of soil / gravel permits has been extended from 3 months to 1 year on 9-5-2022,” he said.