Othappai village is located near Poondi in Thiruvallur district. In this village, there is a footbridge across the Kosasthalai river on the Tiruvallur-Uthukottai road. This old, narrow causeway is regularly submerged whenever surplus water from Bundi Lake, one of the main lakes that meet Chennai's drinking water needs, is released into the Kosasthalai River.

When the Bundi lake surplus water is released, traffic will be restricted on the weakened Utappai footbridge for the safety of the public. Whenever the traffic is banned, more than 50 villagers including Othappai and its surrounding areas of Sittanchery, Mylapore, Bennalurpet, Devendavakkam, Peruncheri, Anandheri, travel to Thiruvallur for essential needs including medical care via Vengal, Thamaraipakkam and Vengal, a distance of about 30 km to Thiruvallur. The situation is prevailing.

Similarly, the Andhra state areas including Nagalapuram, Sathyavedu, the public coming from Oothukottai area to Tiruvallur, motorists, have been taking around 40 km via Periyapalayam, Thamaraipakkam.

Subsequently, the construction of a high-level bridge at Othapai on the Tiruvallur route at a cost of Rs.12.10 crore was started in november 2019. Similarly, the construction of another high-level bridge on the Oothukottai route at a cost of Rs.13.89 crore was started in 2020. It was launched in November.

The construction of these two high-level bridges, which has been started in this way, has been going on at a snail's pace for the last three and a half years. In this work, the construction of the bridge that goes to Tiruvallur Marakkam has been largely completed. Only the road linking works are yet to be started.

About 40 percent of the work on the construction of the Oothukottai road bridge and the work of connecting the piers has been completed.

And they say, "Only if the work is completed before the onset of the Northeast Monsoon, the public and motorists will be able to travel on the Tiruvallur-Uthukottai road without any difficulty when the Bundi surplus water floods. Therefore, the work should be expedited," they demanded.
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S Venkateshwari

28/06/2023 02:00 AM