Dhanushkodi: a ghost town awaits revival

On the evening of December 22, 1964, 14-year-old Purushothaman was playing with his friend Muniyasamy at his home at the railway quarters in Dhanushkodi. Besides them, loadmen, who worked at the railway station, formed the bulk of the population,” Mr. Purushothaman says recalling his good old days in the railway colony. In an interview to The Hindu in 2010, Kali, who was 88 then, recalled that Danushkodi was a prosperous and flourishing coastal town with brisk business and trade activities till the colossal tragedy, with Southern Railway running Boat Mail from Madras Egmore to Dhanushkodi to connect steamers Irvin and Goschen. Missing Link Road After Dhanushkodi was devastated, it came to be called a “ghost town”. Even as railway officials were confident of acquiring land, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced in Parliament in July 2023 that the Tamil Nadu government had requested the Centre to give up the project as the alignment was going through an “ecologically-sensitive zone”.