CHENNAI: Public works minister Aadhav Arjuna on Thursday rejected AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami’s charge that the proposed Tambaram-Chengalpet elevated corridor was shelved after a change in govt, saying a more comprehensive eight-lane highway plan linking Chennai and Kanyakumari was being pursued instead.Raising the issue in the assembly, AIADMK general secretary Palaniswami flagged worsening congestion on the Chennai-Trichy national highway. He said the elevated corridor between Tambaram and Chengalpet had received approval during the AIADMK regime and was ready for execution before the project was put on the backburner during the previous DMK govt. He urged the govt to revive it.Responding, Arjuna said the govt had announced in the House its plan to upgrade the Chennai-Kanyakumari corridor into an eight-lane highway to meet traffic requirements for the next 30 years. The issue, he said, had been taken up with the Union ministry of road transport and highways.Highlighting the bottlenecks around Chennai, the minister said a four-hour journey from Trichy to Chengalpet could be followed by another three hours to reach Chennai. Similarly, travel from Bengaluru to Tiruvallur took around three hours, while entering Central Chennai consumed almost as much time.“The problem requires a comprehensive upgrade of Chennai’s arterial suburban routes, not piecemeal solutions,” Arjuna said, expressing confidence that talks with the Centre would yield results soon.
