CHENNAI CORPORATION: Battered roads add to motorists’ misery

BY G Saravanan


Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on December 8, 2010:


CHENNAI: Though, it was a dry dawn on Tuesday in the State capital,which was lashed by incessant rains for the past three days, the ordeal of residents at the same time just begun. Several inundated arterial and interior roads were free from water but they were badly battered.
Water that was logging on the roads have now given way to gaping potholes, much to the distress of motorists and pedestrians.
Corporation sources admitted that about 60 per cent of the 300-odd-km routes in the city through which buses ply have been either partially or fully damaged. Several interior roads were totally thrown out of shape. However, an assessment of the extent of damage was not immediately available.
Parts of Usman Road, McNichols Road, P T Rajan Salai, Greams Road, Binny Road, Harris Road, Kodambakkam High Road, Meenambal Salai, Paper Mills Road, Villivakkam-Redhills Road, Tondiarpet High Road, Konnur High Road, Strahans Road and Perambur Barracks Road were severely damaged.
Those residing at Adyar and Velachery claim that the potholes on L B Road and the Velachery-Tambaram Road were as big as craters.
Meanwhile, as the rains abated, a team of Corporation officials toured the damaged bus route roads (BRR) maintained by the civic body. They have also chalked out a `50-crore plan to re-lay the damaged roads after December 15.
Local authorities have also come under fire from residents for not having carried out pre-monsoon desilting.
Civic officials told Express that they had undertaken desilting work on about 80 per cent of storm water drains before the monsoon had set in. They said that rainwater had stagnated at many areas owing to the slow flow of water in the Cooum. They assured that the stagnant water would be drained out soon.