CHENNAI: Residents of Varadarajpet Main Road in Choolaimedu have been keeping count of the days since their street was scrapped up to be relaid by the city corporation. “It was dug up on August 11. Since then the road has been in terrible shape. It has been 47 days,” said R Rangarajan, a resident of the street for 34 years.
Around 150 families in the stretch have been affected due to the delay in relaying the stretch. Residents said this has left them vulnerable to accidents. “You cannot even walk on the street; you could lose balance and fall. By scrapping the road, they’ve also exposed the power cables running underground. A few days back, there was a water leak from one of the houses and it was a good thing that no one stepped on the cables or else they might have been electrocuted,” said Andrew Vincent, another resident.
Residents said those who used to park their cars on the street in front of their houses at nights have been using paid parking services for almost two months. “My neighbour has been parking his car around seven kilometres away at a paid car park. Some of us leave our cars with friends or relatives who can spare the space. For a few days, this arrangement would work fine but when it takes months, it causes a lot of inconvenience,” said Andrew.
When contacted, a corporation official said that after the relaying work was taken up, 50 per cent of the stretch near Arcot Road has been relaid and another half including the Varadarajpet stretch remains. “We have to coordinate with both Metro Water and TANGEDCO officials. The work was scheduled to be completed this week but the weather conditions did not allow it. We will resume work from tomorrow and finish it in a week’s time,” the official said.