Date:13/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/13/stories/2007031317150500.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Avadi roads, a nightmare for motorists

K. Lakshmi

Amenities are poor in utter contrast to escalating land prices and development of housing

DUSTY RIDE: Vehicles kicking up dust on the Chozhambedu Road at Thirumullaivoyal . — Photo: K.Pichumani.

CHENNAI : Fast developing housing and escalating land prices present a contrast to the grossly inadequate amenities at Avadi.

Negotiating several roads at Avadi has become a nightmare for many motorists as they cannot help the back-breaking ride. Thirumullaivoyal represents the worst-hit roads at Avadi. Several interior roads at Avadi and Pattabiram have not had blacktopping for several years now, complained residents.

The Chozhambedu Road in Thirumullaivoyal is a typical example of motorists' difficulties. They have little choice than to endure a bumpy ride as the road is half-filled with gravels jutting out of road surface. Pedestrians suffer the most as vehicles plying on the road kick up clouds of dust. Several interior roads of this region including the Arunachalam Road are also battered.

Motorists have to negotiate the badly mauled stretches at Santhipuram and MGR Nagar.

Even though Senthil Nagar at Thirumullaivoyal has grown in population, several roads are still unpaved.

Areas including the Brindavan Road and Srinagar Colony are filled with craters and have gone unnoticed for several months now. Parts of the railway station road leading to the Annanur station and Sivananda Nagar also need to be repaired, said the residents.

Besides the road works to be taken up by the Avadi municipality, roads under the maintenance of the State Highways Department have also been neglected for several years. The potholed stretch of the New Military Road near the municipal office sets a classic example.

The residents said that it was an important stretch as it was the access route to bus terminus, market and railway station. Moreover, several heavy vehicles and buses used the stretch as the road connected to Poonamallee.

Residents of Pattabiram were confused over the roads under the maintenance of municipality and State Highways Department. Both the government agencies shirked their responsibility for road maintenance, several residents complained.

T. Sadagopan, coordinator of the Tiruvallur District Consumer Information Centre, said that some roads in Pattabiram have not been black-topped for three decades now.

The North and South Bazaar Road, Market Road, Station Road, and Indira Gandhi Road present a picture of neglect.

Important roadways such as the Mahatma Gandhi Road and the Thandurai Poonamallee Road are waiting to be blacktopped for several months now, he added.

Official's reply

Responding to the residents' charges, a municipal official said that about Rs.93 lakh was sanctioned to spruce up the interior roads of Avadi and Pattabiram.