Residents Apposed Wall Construction
A trench dug up for the construction of a wall along the railway line at Karunanidhi Nagar in Coimbatore. Opposition by the residents halted the work on Thursday. Residents of Karunanidhi Nagar and Periyar Nagar, near Rathinapuri, have opposed the plan to construct a wall along the railway line near their colony. They gathered on Thursday at the spot where an earth mover was at work to clean the place for the construction and pointed out that the wall would leave them with very narrow access to the colony. The wall had been proposed to keep people away from the railway line. The work was, however, stopped after railways authorities were told of the opposition. District Secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and former Minister S.M. Velusamy and party Councillor P. Rajkumar also reached the spot to ascertain the problems the people would face because of the wall.
Mayor R. Venkatachalam also reached the spot later. After talking to the residents, he apprised Member of Parliament from the Nilgiris R. Prabhu of the problems they foresaw from the wall. The colony fell under this constituency. The Mayor later claimed that the MP spoke to the officials at the divisional railway office in Salem on the view of the residents that the wall would almost block the access to their colony.
The work was subsequently stopped, the Mayor said. Mr. Rajkumar also claimed that the work was stopped after the residents joined him and the party district secretary in opposing the project. Both the councillor and the Mayor said that further work would be decided only after talks with top officials of the district administration, Coimbatore Corporation, divisional railway office and the city police.
