The Hindu : Dug-up roads in Kodambakkam yet to be repaired

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 21, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Dug-up roads in Kodambakkam yet to be repaired

By Our Special Correspondent

Chennai Oct. 20 . Two weeks after it officially completed its "pre-monsoon" digging activity, Metrowater has not ensured that some key roads coming under the Chennai Corporation's Kodambakkam zone are repaired to a level which would make them motorable.

One of the reasons frequently mentioned is that 80 km of roads have been transferred to the State Highways, taking them out of the Corporation's purview.

Deep ditches, trenches, potholes and roads shorn of their black topping remain a common sight in K.K.Nagar and parts of Ashok Nagar. Students struggle over these on bicycles, hackney carriages overloaded with children negotiate the obstacles and impatient vans and buses try to honk them out of their way.

As another school week begins on Monday, thousands of students of institutions ranging from those of the Chennai Corporation to the CBSE and Kendriya Vidyalayas, prepare to cover the obstacle course from home to school and back, in zone VIII.

This zone of the civic body was particularly prominent recently, where a large number of tenders for road works were cancelled amid allegations of malpractice.

The digging crews of Metrowater left the scene on Lakshmanaswamy Salai and in K.K.Nagar two weeks ago, but the Corporation is yet to remove the mud and stones, which have created the steep ups and downs on the road. This road was dug up for the Chennai City River Conservation project, and Metrowater has said it would continue with the laying of 407 metres of pipeline after the monsoon. Brick jelly and debris have not been used to fill up the deep ditches.

The arterial Fourth Main Road connecting Kodambakkam and Ashok Nagar presents a study in contrast. When the Chief Minister used this road to inaugurate the sale of cheap sarees and dhoties at Ashok Nagar, a few weeks ago, it was repaired overnight, without any worries about the tender process. The Corporation seemed to find all resources to complete the job. Part of the repaired portion is the only motorable section now.

Strangely, another part that was repaired for a similar Chief Ministerial visit earlier, for the inauguration of an all-women's police station, has since been ripped apart for pipe-laying activity.

It remains completely devastated and the Kodambakkam zone officials have turned a blind eye to it, despite the fact that this is the road that connects the zonal office with Ashok Nagar.

On Friday, a lorry got stuck in a two feet wide ditch, which was dug across the Fourth Main Road, near Jawahar Vidyalaya. Despite this, the road was not repaired, leading to endless traffic jams.

The importance of Fourth Main, commonly referred to as Ashok Nagar Main Road, has increased because the other connection to Ashok Nagar via Arya Gowda Road lies devastated after Metrowater's digging activity. Bus services to West Mambalam have remained crippled as a result.

The impending onset of monsoon promises to give lakhs of residents of this part of the city a harrowing time, because the Corporation did not act during sunny days.

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