CHENNAI: A pothole near a nursing home in the middle of Konnur High Road, proved costly for 21-year-old Praneeth Nair, about two weeks ago. While returning home after a gymming session in Ayanavaram, the CA student encountered a large pothole.
“This happened a few metres away from the ICF signal on the Konnur High Road, which in itself is uneven and in a pathetic condition. At first, I couldn’t see the pothole from a distance. However, when I actually saw it, it was way too late and I had to immediately take a sudden turn. This led to the bike skidding and by virtue of it, I injured my right hand,” he rued. Perhaps a result of the rains followed by extreme heat or just plain bad laying standards, the city’s roads are proving to be just as dangerous as speeding vehicles.
Incidentally, that accident did not just leave Praneeth with a fractured hand. “I have had 10 stitches on both sides of my right hand between the palm and the elbow. Two discs have been inserted as I had broken a bone. It was no fault of mine. But the damaged road led me to this condition,” he lamented, adding that it was increasingly tough for him to concentrate on the upcoming intermediate exams that start on May 3. And, this is just one of the many tales that commuters and motorists narrated to City Express, as far as the issue of the road condition in the city goes. Rohit Samuel Rajkumar, who is pursuing his MBA, injured his left hand after skidding on what he called an uneven road, while commuting by a two-wheeler in Perungudi. “In general, I can say that Perungudi has no roads that are laid for the commuters to have a smooth ride. The ride is bumpy and scary. Lot of people in this area have spinal cord issues,” he added, attributing the same to the condition of the roads. While Rohit met with an accident, Vishal Giridhar, a resident of West Mambalam, missed a train, due to an old foe — the ever present traffic jam. However, he ascribed the reason for traffic jam to the roads being dug up by cable officials and said that the damaged roads had actually led to a traffic jam on a particular day when he had missed the train.
“The roads are dug up by officials from various departments for various reasons. But why aren’t the roads repaired and brought back to the normal condition? In all the places in Central Chennai, roads are a cause of distress. They are either too narrow or are unlevelled or damaged,” said an almost angry Nitin Kapahi, a marketing professional, who travels across the city for work purposes. “The speed breakers are not built as per the norms, I suppose. Across the city, you find speed breakers of varying sizes. This adds to the woes because certain speed breakers can’t actually be seen from a distance posing a threat to the driver,” added Ganesh Ram, who commutes in a two-wheeler.
When City Express got in touch with a few auto drivers, they said that the Taramani Link Road was the worst among other roads in south Chennai and roads in Ayanavaram, Broadway and Villivakkam were in poor condition in the north. Meanwhile, a traffic police official said that the laying of roads was in itself not as easy as it appeared to be. “There are lot of stakeholders involved in the process including the traffic department. It is only after an approval comes in from appropriate bodies can the work begin,” he said, adding that the North and South of Chennai should not be compared. “The roads in North Chennai are narrower and the area in itself is thickly populated. When development works are undertaken, it’s almost always tough to repair the road right away, given the number of people travelling on the roads on a regular basis. That’s not the case with Central and South Chennai,” he explained.