NH authorities removed encroachments near Aatuppalam
The Revenue and National Highways authorities removed encroachments near Aatuppalam on the city border on the Dindigul - Bangalore National Highway-209 recently.The National Highways authorities had proposed widening of the NH-209 into a four-lane highway. The authorities noticed encroachments along the road boundary near Aatuppalam, an entry point of Coimbatore city.Following a request from the National Highway authorities, the District Screening Committee that met under the chairmanship of District Collector, Neeraj Mittal decided to provide alternative accommodation for the 27 families below poverty line.These families had constructed pucca and semi-pucca dwelling structures and had been living there for one to three decades. The South tahsildar, V. Subramanian identified sites at Madukkarai for them and the families vacated the houses.Mr. Subramanian, National Highways Assistant Divisional Engineer B. Balakrishnan, Assistant Engineer K. Raja and a team of officials and workers carried out the eviction drive. The land restored in the drive was estimated to be close to half-an-acre valued at Rs. 1 crore.The work on four-lane was expected to be carried out during the next financial year, the authorities said.
