Farmers oppose Sathyamangalam bypass road project in coimbatore
Farmers and owners of residential plots along Sathyamangalam road have appealed to the State government and the district administration to drop the proposal for development of a greenfield bypass road to Sathyamangalam from Coimbatore.
In a memorandum submitted recently to Coimbatore District Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati, they said the NH wing of the Highways Department planned to develop a new four-lane bypass road from Kurumbapalayam to Sathyamangalam despite opposition from the local people living in areas where the road was planned. The road was planned by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and was later handed over to the State Highways Department.
The ₹640-crore project involved acquisition of land and the local people demanded widening of the existing road rather than developing a new one. The NH wing of the Highways Department was widening the existing two-lane road for nearly 40 km and the widened road would be almost a four-lane road. It could be widened further too. Also, Sathyamangalam road led to ghat road that saw movement of wild animals and hence could not be widened, they said.
The Detailed Project Report was prepared over four years ago. The notice issued by NHAI for acquisition of land had lapsed and the State government had made minor changes to the alignment. So, it need to issue notice again to acquire land. It should take into account the developments that had happened and also the Athikadavu-Avinashi scheme for which the trial run was on. The new road was expected to displace farmers of nearly 4,000 acres, they alleged.
An official of the Highways Department said the State government should form special units to acquire land for the project and if the units were formed, the process to acquire land and develop the greenfield road would commence. Meanwhile, the farmers, plot owners and residents said that they would not allow acquisition of their lands for the project.
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