Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary V. Irai Anbu has sought to set the record straight on the issue of widening the Mamallapuram-Puducherry stretch of the East Coast Road (ECR) into four lanes.
The issue pertained to the time taken by the State government in issuing a no objection certificate (NOC) and handing over the 105-km stretch of the ECR, also called National Highways (NH-332A), to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), which had proposed to widen the road at an estimated cost of over ₹3,000 crore under the Bharatmala Pariyojana.
The Chief Secretary, who replied on Wednesday to the April 8 letter of the NHAI’s chairperson Alka Upadhyaya ,said he was “surprised” at her statement that on the issue, there was “no response” from the State government, which “is not inclined” to hand over the road.
