Key causeways across Palar river in Vellore and Tirupattur districts, will be opened for vehicular traffic from January 1 as restoration of these damaged facilities are nearing completion.
These causeways, which connect Vellore and Tirupattur, through border towns like Ambur and Katpadi, were damaged during the heavy rain last month that resulted in the discharge of excess rainwater into the Palar and its tributaries like Poonai and Agaram, flooding areas along Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupattur districts.
Since then, affected residents in over 40 villages had to make a detour of at least eight km to reach big towns like Ambur, Katpadi, Wallajah and the Benguluru Highway (NH: 48) for their daily needs. "As these causeways remain a key connectivity, officials were working round-the-clock to complete the repair works by end of the month," said Vellore Collector P. Kumaravel Pandian.
Workers from the Construction and Maintenance section of the State Highways Department, which maintains causeways across the Palar in these districts, have been working for the past fortnight in restoration work. Three causeways such as Madhanur near Ambur (Tirupattur), Virinjipuram near Katpadi and Poonai near Vellore have been damaged due to heavy rain in November.
Illegal sand mining
Officials said the major reason for the erosion of sand around these causeways was the illegal sand mining in the river during summer. It made the foundation pillars of these causeways weak, resulting in partial collapse during the flood in November.
Around 36,000 tons of boulders were used to level three damaged causeways on a par with the existing road level in these districts. On an average, boulders were filled to a depth of 25 feet bexfore gravel was used to create the platform for these causeways across Palar and Poonai rivers.
One of the major challenges was river erosion of these huge boulders that are dumped into the damaged causeway as running water washes them. Refilling of boulders round-the-clock was done as part of the restoration work.
