The Hindu : Restoration work on, in patches

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 17, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Restoration work on, in patches

By Saptarshi Bhattacharya

CHENNAI DEC. 16 . Nearly two months after heavy rains battered city roads and tore them up into strips of rubble, the Chennai Corporation today sought to demonstrate that it was working hard to close the bad patches.

Mediapersons were taken round parts of North Chennai where the civic body was engaged in works to stop flooding — desilting of stormwater drains and canals, among other places, at Pulianthope, Korukkupet, Vyasarpadi and Perambur, and carrying out `quality patchwork' on Tiruvottiyur-Manali Road, Vaidyanathan Street, Sathyamurthy Road and Erukkenchery Road. Yet, not many local residents were cheering.

The condition of many places including Vaidyanathan Street in Tondiarpet and Sathyamurthy Road in MKB Nagar continued to be critical. On Vaidyanathan Street, the gaping potholes have been filled with gravel and patchwork is being done periodically, but the top layer hardly stays. Heavy lorry movement and frequent sewer overflow compounded the problem. Metrowater too, has been working on leak detection and rectification at 40 places in Tondiarpet leaving many roads dug up.

On Sathyamurthy Road, a stormwater drain criss-crossing the road was found collapsed during the rains, which led to severe stagnation. Incidentally, the same route was taken by the Chief Minister during her inspection of flood-hit areas of North Chennai.

Illegal sewer lines emptying into storm water drains has plagued North Chennai for years. The problem especially turned acute when mud and slush clogged the drains leading to stagnation of sewage-mixed water. Thyagappa Chetty Street in Korukkupet is a case in point.

Later, addressing presspersons, the Corporation Commissioner, M. Kalaivanan, said 12 roads which handled heavy lorry traffic would be concretised at a total cost of Rs. 26 crores. The Tiruvottiyur-Manali Road, Sathyamurthy and Ganesapuram Road would be taken up during the current fiscal year at a cost of Rs. 2.6 crores.

The damaged roads in the city would be relaid using rubberised bitumen. Pedestrian facilities would be given priority while laying roads.

The Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Services has been entrusted with the quality control consultancy for city roads. The maintenance would be vested with the contractors for five years.

He said the stormwater drains had not been attended to for many years. To speed up desilting and repair works, about 1,000 contractors were given work orders all over the city.

The Metrowater Managing Director, K. Dheenadhayalan, said illegal sewer connections in North Chennai were a persistent problem.

Metrowater and the Corporation identified about 500 places where sewage was being illegally let into storm water drains. Notices were being served to the houses or establishments responsible.

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