CHENNAI: Around 1,000 people living in TT block of the 13-floor Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) tenement in Sathiamurthy Nagar are forced to rely on a single lift despite the block having six elevators. Five of the elevators have been defunct, and the one functioning is also on the verge of breaking down due to overuse, residents said. The block houses a total of 480 units.
K P Anand, a resident, said, “Every morning, a queue of over 30 to 40 people forms in front of elevator number 6, making the area crowded and the lift overloaded. However, since the elevator has begun to creak when in operation, many residents now prefer to use the stairs out of fear. Women and senior citizens collecting drinking water from lorries are forced to use the stairs. Office-goers and schoolchildren are often delayed waiting for the elevator.”
B Sugumar, a member of Sathyamurthy nagar makkal poratta kuzhu, said the issue has persisted since they moved in here and multiple petitions submitted to officials have gone in vain.
Residents began occupying the building two years ago and even then, two elevators were defunct, they claimed. Those two lifts are yet to be fixed, they added. While the other four were initially functional, two of them developed issues over the past one month. Of the remaining two, residents said they are afraid to use elevator number 3 as it frequently gets stuck between floors, forcing all the 480 families to depend on a elevator number 6.
However, speaking to TNIE, a TNUHDB official said while three elevators are currently operational, the other three are out of service with two of them facing short-circuit problems. He said repairs will be undertaken and maintenance checks carried out within two days.
The official added that frequent overloading has led to recurring malfunctions. To address these problems, a tender will be floated within a week to install CCTV cameras and automatic rescue devices will be installed in the elevators soon, he said.