Railway promises Nemom road restoration by June 15

T'puram: Southern Railway promised to complete reconstruction of Nemom Vattavila Suresh Road, a portion of which railway took over as part of ongoing rail doubling work, by June 15. Railway authorities gave the assurance in this regard at a monitoring committee meeting called by district collector Anu Kumari at collectorate on Friday.The meeting, attended by representatives of railways, corporation, revenue department and Nemom action council, was convened as per a set of directives issued by state human rights commission on a petition filed by the action council seeking its intervention to put an end to the ordeal meted out to residents of the Road who lost a portion of their public road on account of the rail doubling work. Collector instructed railway representatives to ensure that a pucca tarred road, which is roughly around 150m, should be constructed before the onset of monsoon, to which the latter responded positively. The meeting decided to ensure the road is motorable and the formalities for the handing over of the road, which lies in the railway-acquired land, be worked out later by civic body and railways, in consultation with the action council. Over 20 cents of land was taken over by district administration in two instalments in 1972 and 2021, without making any alternative arrangement to ensure road connectivity for the residents in the area. The road connectivity, which the railway now promised, is hardly 3m wide whereas the original road was over 5m wide. Railway authorities said the district administration or other state authorities concerned may acquire additional land if the width of the road has to be increased further. SHRC directed district administration to find a solution to the injustice meted out to the residents by approaching the issue with short-term and long-term strategies. It has asked to set up a monitoring panel to ensure that the connectivity is re-established at the earliest and to explore options to further widen the road by acquiring additional land. The railway paid over Rs 1 crore to state govt as compensation for 9.5 cents of road handed over to it by district administration as per notification in 2021. The govt, however, gifted over 12 cents of road to railway as per the notification in 1972.