TIRUCHY: The relief for city residents from the relaying of arterial roads that were taken up within months of the new government coming into power has been short-lived, as potholes have already reemerged in several of them following the rain spells over the past few days. With potholes reappearing in the very same spot in some of the roads despite them getting a fresh layer of asphalt, motorists demand the poor workmanship by contractors to be addressed at the earliest.
With relaid roads like Thillai Nagar Main Road, Dr Sastri Road, and Anna Nagar Nagar Main Road crumbling with every passing vehicle, Ravichandran, a resident of Thennur, said, "We are tired of these potholes in city roads. We were delighted after the relaying, because from always trying to avoid damaging our vehicles, for once we were able to ride smoothly without thinking about anything. But now the misery has once again surfaced. The civic body should immediately look into the issue and make sure the potholes are fixed because the monsoon is just going to get more intense in the next couple of weeks.”
Road safety activists point to a lack of milling process prior to relaying as the major cause for roads like Anna Nagar Main Road suffering potholes in the same spots once again.
P Ayyarappan, a road safety activist from the district, said, "The lack of proper drainage system and improper relaying are the sole reasons for the frequent damage. The road quality could have been much better if they had milled the entire road first and then laid out the fresh layer of tarmac. But as the contractors just relaid the roads by covering the potholes, the damage has been exposed once again. It is high time the civic body looks into the issue because it not only causes inconvenience to motorists but is also a case of wasting public money."
When contacted, Corporation Commissioner PMN Mujibur Rahman said, "We will look into the issue and take necessary efforts to make sure motorists are not under inconvenience."