CHENNAI: It takes a lot of struggle for women to step out of their homes for work. In addition to that, simple things like lack of basic civic amenities such as streetlights, good roads and social issues like tipplers’ menace become detrimental to their safety and professional pursuit.
A slew of issues have been plaguing Kelambakkam for a few years now, putting residents in much hardship. Numerous petitions to the local bodies have not yielded any results, they rue. Most of the stretch between Siruseri and Kelambakkam, where thousands of IT employees work and reside, delve into darkness post evening.
“People working in the IT industry have different shifts and are bound to travel at night. Especially, the Kazhipattur and Egatoor Junctions are extremely unsafe in the night because of speeding vehicles coming from all directions,” said J Sabrina, a resident of Kelambakkam. IT employees say even their cab drivers hesitate to take rides to these areas owing to poor illumination and bad road conditions. They say there have been cases where miscreants stopped drivers on their way back to office and extorted money.
R Varnamala, an IT employee from Siruseri said, “Tipplers’ menace is scary. They grope the pedestrians and rob them. Several complaints to police have gone unnoticed. Even if they patrol during the night, a permanent solution can only be the installation of streetlights.” Adding to their woes is the large population of stray cattle that squat right in the middle of dark roads.