CHENNAI: An eighty four-year old activist lay down in a pothole in the service lane under MIT flyover at Chromepet to protest against the bad road conditions. The octogenarian, V Santhanam, president of New Colony Residents Welfare Association (NCRWA), braved the midday heat and brought traffic to a trickle on the service lane before being forced to call off the protest by police.
Twenty days ago, NCRWA threatened to plant seeds in the potholes after petitioning the state Highways department for over a year to relay the service lane which had been dug up to provide Metrowater connections.
The threat of seed planting caught attention of the department, which began patch work before the protest day. The association refrained from planting seeds and disbanded after an hour of sloganeering. However, the work was abandoned after a few days. “In a few places potholes have been filled with concrete but our demand for a proper tar road hasn’t been met,” said Santhanam.
In spite of the patch work, the one kilometre service lane which begins at the Tambaram Government Hospital and ends at Mahalakshmi residency on GST road is still lined with potholes. “Dengue is on the spread and these potholes filled with rainwater are the perfect breeding ground for mosquitos,” the protester said.
The State Highways department blame the recent showers for abandoning work on the service lane.
“The rain has halted work. We are at its mercy to relay the tar road,” said Chandrashekar, Assistant Divisional Engineer of city roads division.