CHENNAI: The blaring horns and screech of tyres against asphalt tear through the air. Pedestrians flinch at the sound and scurry to the edge of the asphalt, brushing against the raised step of the footpath. Yet none dare to climb onto it, with rubble and construction equipment littering their otherwise safe haven.
A newly laid footpath at EVK Sampath Road in Egmore has been dug open to lay stormwater drains this monsoon.
“The footpath was in good condition before this, since it was laid only a few months ago. They could have laid the stormwater drain at that point,” said Harshvardan D, a resident of one of the apartments on the road. However, this issue may not be unique to this road, with a similar instance being reported by pedestrians near Olympia Tech Park in Guindy, where a new pavement in good condition was torn open for construction of drains.
According to Corporation estimates, EVK Sampath Road has not been relaid in over 15 years. The perennially busy 500-metre stretch connects Vepery and Periamet from Poonnamallee High Road, and has two bus stops on either ends and two schools. The office of the Commissioner of Police also lies on this stretch.
The work that has been going on since about a month now, has been completed in the first half of road near PH Road and is still underway in the other half.
“Earlier, the road did not have much traffic. Over the last few years, it has become very busy that it’s very difficult for a pedestrian to cross it. There are also waterlogging problems here when it rains, so it would be appropriate for the authorities to relay it,” said Prathiba Sri, a frequent commuter.
Thanks to illegal sewage connections to the stormwater drains, sewage has been spilling onto roads ever since the stretch was opened up for renovating the stormwater drains.
School students of a private school on the road are forced to cover their noses when jumping over puddles of sewage every morning. “At nights, the sewage from the drains is drained into the manholes in the middle of the road but it seems like it’s never-ending,” said a watchman working at an apartment on the road.
When contacted, Corporation officials said that although the road has not been laid for 15 years, it would be done as soon as the stormwater drain work was completed. “After the stormwater drain work is completed in a month’s time the road and the footpath would be relaid,” the official said.