Senior citizens like G. Paramasivam of Ram Lakshman Nagar in Ward 56 do not venture out for morning walks. The loose blue metal on the roads, they fear, might hurt their toes. Their fear is not unfounded as many have experienced it before.
They also fear riding two-wheelers on the road, but for a different reason. Mr. Paramasivam says that the loose stones had challenged the stability of many a rider. And almost all residents who ride two-wheelers had suffered a fall.
Grievance
The residents have been living with the grievance and bad roads for at least two years now. In the two years, the condition of roads in the locality, which is opposite the eastern gate of the PSG Hospitals, has turned worse with the rains playing catalyst.
All the loose blue metal is due to the rains, laments M.J. Daniel, another resident. And the movement of heavy vehicles that carry sand and building materials to a nearby apartment complex has only hastened the degeneration of the roads.
The residents say they have petitioned the Corporation officials and have also taken up the issue with the Ward Councillor, D. Lakshmi Ilanselvi.
She says that when she took up the issue with the officials, she was told that the Corporation would lay new roads only after completing the underground drainage work, for the civic body could not afford to lay a new road, dig the same and then re-lay the road.
The officials’ argument, though correct, is unacceptable as the residents will have to wait for long and suffer the ensuing monsoon.
The Corporation is likely to take up the area under Phase VI of the UGD work, which could easily be another year or more.
Septic tank
In the same ward, on the other side of the road in the HUDCO Colony, near the PSG Hospital, the residents there want the Corporation to clean the drain and close the septic tank, which is open. At frequent intervals, solid waste gets into the tank to choke the flow of sewage. This arrests the discharge of waste from the 900-odd houses in the area, she says.
Sewage
If that were to happen, the sewage flows into the toilets in almost all the houses, says V. Venugopal, a resident of the area.
After numerous complaints, the Corporation has made an arrangement, which is temporary, though. The civic body has connected the sewage to an alternative tank to take it to the drain there. As a permanent solution, the Corporation should clean and close the tank.
Ms. Ilanselvi says that she has raised the issue and also made the demand for early completion of UGD work in the Council and was promised of a solution.
