Chennai: Work on Perungalathur flyover second arm halted

CHENNAI: Work on the second arm of Perungalathur flyover has come to a halt due to a delay in transferring funds to people from whom lands were acquired for the project. The government clarified on Monday that the issue was resolved, and work will begin soon.Though the announcement to construct a six-arm flyover at a cost of ₹76 crore was made way back in 2001, not much progress was made. In 2020, the government made a revised sanction of₹234 crore for the project.Soon after, the highways started constructing one arm of the flyover, which allows Chennai-bound vehicles to skip Perungalathur traffic. Work was affected by the pandemic but it resumed earlier this year and is expected to be ready for use this month. But work on the other arm, which supports traffic in the opposite direction (vehicles leaving Chennai towards Chengalpattu), is stuck due to delay in settling land acquisition compensations. The government is supposed to distribute ₹5.4 crore to private owners from whom land parcels were acquired for the flyover.Highway officials passed the blame on to revenue officials, who are currently struggling to withdraw funds from the treasury. Originally, funds for the project were distributed through the Poonamalle treasury office.But after the bifurcation of the Kancheepuram district and the formation of the new Chengalpattu district, revenue authorities are unable to withdraw funds from the said office. So, the project came to a halt despite repeated reminders from the contractor to the government.Rejecting this, TN Highways secretary Pradeep Yadav said, "There was some delay in transferring funds. It has now been sorted out". His subordinates said that they were planning to give an extension to the contractor to finish the project. As per the original agreement, construction should have been completed before October end of this year.The government could have solved such discrepancies in no time. But the lackadaisical approach is causing great inconvenience to the public, said K Nagesh, a Vandalur resident, adding that it takes at least 15-20 minutes to cross the stretch near Perungalathur railway station every day.