COIMBATORE: Residents criticized the Coimbatore corporation for the delay in constructing a subway at Peelamedu railway crossing. They alleged that the civic body had failed to acquire land for the construction of a subway. R Pradesh Kumar of Peelamedu said around 27 people have been fatally hit by trains at the railway crossing in recent years. He said, “There are many schools in the surrounding areas. Many people cross the tracks. When the Peelamedu flyover was proposed in 2014, it was provisioned along with a subway that will allow only two-wheelers and cars. Though the flyover was completed in 2017, the subway was never initiated. More than 800 people, school and college students, cross these tracks every day and are at high risk of losing their lives.” According to an RTI reply from the NABARD, which is the executing body, about 29.5 cents of land has not been acquired and handed over by the corporation for the construction of the subway. Peelamedu Consumer Voice president P V Gopal, who filed the RTI application and got the reply, said, “After several requests from the residents, the Peelamedu flyover was executed and a subway measuring 16 feet in width and feet height was planned. An RTI reply to me indicates that a groundbreaking ceremony was conducted two months ago. But unless the corporation hands over 29.5 cents of land, the entire project will be stalled.”
