Chennai: With AIADMK supremo and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa hitting the campaign trail for the R.K. Nagar bypoll, the locals are hoping that the seven-year-long pending railway over bridge project on Cochrane Basin road will be completed soon. Every time Mr Selvam, an ambulance driver, gets a call from the Korukkupet area, he starts off with a prayer that no goods train should be in way as that would mean half-an-hour wait at the railway gate. “Only in Korukkupet can one see a pitiful situation of an ambulance waiting at the railway gate with a life at stake,” adds Mr Selvam.
The ambulances that come to this area face a situation of having to wait at the railway gate or take a detour via Tondiarpet high road, which adds one hour to the journey, if there is traffic. The Korukkupet railway over bridge was sanctioned in 2007 at a cost of '16.66 crore. It would connect Cochrane Basin road with Kathivakkam high road, without which the residents are forced to wait for hours at either one of the three railway gates. “Though many people have lost their lives because of this situation, nothing has been done by the officials until now.
It is getting very difficult for us during an emergency,” says Mr Prakash, a resident of Meenambal Nagar. He expressed the hope that the ROB will be completed soon with Ms Jayalalithaa contesting the R.K. Nagar bypoll which she is sure to win. The work at the ROB was delayed due to a land acquisition case filed against the corporation of Chennai by two landowners of the area.
