CHENNAI : Caught in between alleged lack of funds and lack of coordination between different government bodies, the arterial and main bus route roads in the city remain damaged. In many locations, though the Metro Water board has finished repairing and laying underground pipes, Greater Chennai Corporation has delayed relaying the damaged stretches. Due to this, these roads have become inaccessible to pedestrians and motorists. The AGS Colony in Velachery is one such example. It has become the new normal for the 350-plus members of AGS Colony Residents Welfare Association to set aside around Rs 1,000 every month to maintain the damaged roads in their colony.
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Fourth Main Road, 6th and 8th Cross Streets in AGS Colony are the affected streets, of which 4th Main Road is a bus route road through which M9M and minibus S13 ply. As authorities offer no respite, residents decided to act. “For 2017-18, we have spent around `8,000-`10,000 to collect sand and construction debris from nearby buildings to fill these potholes. But when it rains, this layer peels off,” said Geetha Ganesh, secretary of the association.
Even after repeated complaints from residents, officials cited lack of funds as the reason for delay in relaying the dug-up stretches. “Lack of coordination is the next big problem between these departments. If the Corporation doesn’t have sufficient funds they don’t communicate this to Metro Water. We, residents, suffer the most,” she added.
However, this problem isn’t limited to AGS Colony alone. Other such affected stretches are parts of Purushothaman Nagar and Kumarankundram in Chromepet, road connecting Kilkattalai to Pallavaram, northern phase of Ambattur Industrial Estate, entire stretch under Kodambakkam flyover towards Mahalingapuram and others parts of Kodambakkam, one kilometre stretch of Rukmani Lakshmipathi-Marshalls Road in Egmore, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Streets in Kasima Nagar at Kasimedu, Dhandapani Street and other parts of T Nagar, and Secretariat Colony at Kellys.
“Because the present government has institutionalised corruption in their working, there is a dearth of funds for genuine development work. All departments including Public Works Department are short on finance because of mismanagement of funds and corruption,” said David Manohar, an activist with Arappor Iyakkam.
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Officials from the Greater Chennai Corporation deny all complaints and said speedy work is carried out to patch up damaged roads. “Before Metro Water digs any spot, funds are allotted and tenders are given to carry out repair work. So there is no chance of delay in repair work,” said an official. On the other hand, prolonged Metro Water repair work in certain parts of the city has made a handful of arterial roads inaccessible to locals for almost a year now.
The 400-metre MGR Road stretch in Perungudi which connects OMR to Tharamani is damaged due to delayed Metro Water work that has been happening since May 2018. “Local Corporation officials said the work will be completed by June end. Later they said they will send completion certificate to the highways department by July. When I enquired, the Highways Department said they haven’t received any such letter,” said Prasanna, an employee of a nearby IT firm.
Venkateshwara Nagar 1st Main Road and Naidu Road in Ramapuram is another example. “Eight months ago they started work to lay sewage pipes. They haven’t completed, yet. We now use Arcot Road,” said P Mandramoorthy, a resident.The roads in Vadapalani between Vijaya Hospital and Kamala Theatre on Arcot Road face the same problem. On the 200-metre stretch between the bus terminus and Vadapalani junction, underground sewage pipe repair work has been going on since June 2018.