CHENNAI: A citizen-led audit has documented 245 locations across the 30 districts in the state where repeated road re-laying without adequate milling has created an adverse elevation difference between the roadways and adjoining lots, leaving some houses nearly three feet below the road level and vulnerable to rainwater and sewage intrusion.
The report, published by Arappor Iyakkam on Sunday, is based on submissions from 157 citizens supported by GPS-tagged photographs. According to the report, contractors and local bodies allegedly bypass the cold-milling process that removes old and damaged layers of the road surface.
Residents told the organisation that they had to spend as much as Rs 40 lakh for the structural alteration of their buildings to match the difference in elevation. House entrances that once required a run of steps now sit in a distinct depression, causing issues with accessibility.
At Perumal Kovil Street in Alapakkam, Chennai, a resident reported that a government school has now fallen below the street level, witnessing water stagnation even after light rain. In several other locations, residents reported rainwater, sewage, and debris entering houses during the monsoon season.
The report stated that manholes, silt drains, and utility chambers have also sunken below carriageways, posing a risk to two-wheeler riders. Local bodies then incurred additional expenditure to raise the height of manholes, footpaths, and electricity junction boxes, it stated.
The report recommended that tender conditions require the depth of milling to equal the thickness of new roads. It also called for the elevation of every road above mean sea level (MSL) to be measured before and after re-laying, recorded in the project’s Measurement Book, and published on the local body’s website. “If the post-completion road MSL measurements reveal an increase in the road’s height, no payment should be disbursed to the contractor,” it said.
Further, it recommended making photographic and video evidence of the milling process, its depth and the road’s elevation compulsory for all road tenders. Officials and contractors failing to comply should be penalised, it added. For future cases, the report proposed government compensation of up to `40 lakh to enable house owners to undertake structural alterations. For affected properties, it recommended an expert committee to examine houses and roads, and devise remedial measures. It also recommended gradually lowering the height of main roads, as the levels of interior roads were often raised to match them.