CHENNAI: With the third phase of the Perungalathur flyover almost complete and scheduled to be inaugurated in August, the final phase, where the arm connects Nedungundram, is being delayed further. The wait for the flyover to be fully functional may end in two years.
"There is no point in directly blaming the government. The officers in charge of the flyover project are lethargic, which is why the flyover work has dragged on for more than two decades. The officials should have arranged for a place to move the substation in the initial plan itself. Still, they started to look for a place only after half the construction was completed," said Mahendra Boopathy, the president of the Perungalathur Welfare Association.
In June 2023, the 400-metre stretch of the flyover connecting Srinivasa Nagar in Old Perungalathur to the GST Road towards Tambaram was inaugurated. The then Rural Industries Minister TM Anbarasan said the flyover connecting Vandalur in Chennai-Tiruchy National Highway will be completed and inaugurated within four months. However, the work has taken over a year to complete. The Highways department officials said the flyover towards Vandalur will be completed in two weeks and inaugurated for the public by August 2024.
Once the flyover is inaugurated, commuters can let out a sigh of relief as the structure will aid in freeing up the highway. R Raja, a Perungalathur resident, recounts his struggle. He needs to reach Vandalur and make a U-turn to reach his home from the city. He is hopeful about the flyover, which would connect the highway to Perungalathur.
Residents of Perungalathur are woeful and furious over the project being dilly-dallied and express concern over the shifting of the EB substation that delays the final phase of the construction. They lamented, "The engineers and officials were aware of the substation. They should have let the Tangedco know about shifting it during the initial planning to get a headstart on the search for a new location."
For more than three years, the officials had been looking for a suitable place to shift the substation, and only recently, a place in the locality was finalised for the move.
Perungalathur residents added that it is making them very worried that they have been waiting for more than 20 years for a completed flyover, making them think that they are in a country still far behind being a much-developed country. They also said that two lakh people are suffering over the years due to the delayed flyover.
The flyover construction work began many years ago. As per the records, the highways department allocated Rs 86 crore for the project in 2001. Today, the estimate stands at over Rs 200 crores.
When contacted, a Highways department official said the tender to shift the substation was signed a few days ago, and the shifting work would begin soon. The flyover construction will be completed within four months of Tangedco finishing the substation shift.