CHENNAI: Over the past two years, construction of stormwater drains have left some of the roads in the city battered. Case in point is a set of 10 roads in Porur, which haven’t been relaid for a year though stormwater drain (SWD) works were completed in 2018. These roads now wear a grim look plastered with potholes and loose gravel. Despite repeated complaints to Chennai Corporation to relay these roads, residents continue to wait for solutions.
Chettiyar Agaram Main Road, Chettiyar Agaram 1st Street, Poonamallee High Road in Porur, Appadurai Pillai Street in Thandalam, Manapakkam Main Road, TNHB 2nd Main Road, TNHB 1st Main Road, TNHB Main Road and two more roads need immediate repair.
For a distance of one km along Manapakkam High Road from Amman Kovil Street to Koliyamman Street, commuters struggle due to traffic caused by the abysmal condition of the road during peak hours. Also, there are schools and college located in and around Chettiyar Agaram Main Road, which makes the bottleneck worse.
Corporation officials had promised residents that once SWD works were over, these roads will be relaid in six months. But no such work has been undertaken till date. Many manholes lie uncovered in these localities making it dangerous for pedestrians.
Five months back, Internet cables were laid by a private company which only made matters worse. According to the work order issued by the Corporation, as many as 25 pits were dug for cable laying work.
“I have seen many motorists lose their balance while trying to ride over the raised manholes. Only a portion of Vanagaram-Chettiyar Agaram Road was patched up recently. All other interior roads have been ignored,” said Pughal V, a resident of Kundrathur, who has sent many complaints to the CM Special Cell about this.
In many areas different parts of one road comes under three different zones of 11, 12 and 13, and lack of coordination seems to be the main problem behind this. “A lot of heavy vehicle traffic movement is seen at Appadurai Pillai Street which connects Poonamallee to Vanagaram Bypass. So every time they patch up the road, the tar comes off in a few weeks. This becomes more dangerous,” said Prakash S, a resident of Mugalivakkam.
A senior Corporation official said that these roads will be relaid soon and was delayed due to issues in the road laying contract. “We have received many complaints about these roads. But we aren’t able to take up work due to frequent rains,” said the official.