Work on stormwater drains, service lanes, wells is on
The Chennai Corporation has further pushed the deadline for the completion of the Rs.34.16-crore vehicular subway at Villivakkam to April.
Senior civic body officials said that though the facility to replace Level Crossing- 2 (LC -2) looks complete from outside, civic body officials said work on stormwater drains, service lanes and wells is on.
The Southern Railway, which is responsible for the portion beneath the tracks, would take some more time to complete dewatering and lay the wearing coat. The Corporation would have to connect both sides thereafter.
“As the rains have just ended, water table is high and there is continuous seepage due to that. Of 680 metres of stormwater drains, 170 metres have been completed and work is on in another 75 m. Only after the completion of the drains, the service roads can be laid. The drains and the roads are at the same height,” a source in the civic body said.
The work on the subway began in 2008 and the deadline has been pushed several times due to various factors, including land acquisition, removal of encroachments, shifting of service lines, delay in concrete box pushing by the Southern Railway and water seepage and logging after the rains.
The Corporation had earlier said that the work would be completed in April 2010, then it was shifted to January 2011 and then postponed to June 2011. Subsequently, it was promised that the work would be finished before the onset of the monsoon but it was not.
Sunitha Balaji, a resident of Villivakkam, said, “When the railway gate on LC 1 is closed for trains, we have to wait up to 20 to 30 minutes at times. The trains are very frequent and during rush hour we lose patience waiting and prefer to take a roundabout route through Padi and turn right at the Retteri junction to reach our relatives' place at Thirupathi Nagar near Kolathur.”
Many residents, who have to reach schools on the other side, have no other option but to wait for passing of the trains. If the subway work is completed, it would save a lot of time and fuel for those travelling to places including Poompuhar Nagar and Rajaji Nagar, said Prema Sriramalu, a resident of SIDCO Nagar in Villivakkam.
Comments:
Thanks for the photo. What an attrocious quality of execution! Nothing is straight or plumb. The concrete stage joints are not straight and are patched up with plaster later. Also, is there really a need for such a large walkway on both sides? considering the width of the road, that seems excessive. Also, why not go for creative solution like having the walkway on top of the railway line while the road goes underneath. This way both pedestrian and the vehicles can share the same vertical space and there will be more space for the vehicular traffic. However, it is too much to ask for government designers/architects to use their brain in Chennai. What a shame? One more wasted opportunity in chennai and a monsterour looking subway is being created using public funds!!! Who cares for form anyway... sigh!
The inordinate delay in ecompleting this small project is totally unjustifed.It simply exposes the poor execution skills of the agencies involved ,lack of commitment and poor leadership.It is just a stones throw away from the responsible agencies Viz. state head quarters as well as the Zonal Railways head.None of the heads have taken pain to make a visit to drive the agencies involved to complete the project in time.On the one hand same government agencies have demonstrated completing some other oprojects in time.That kind of political will is lacking for this constituancy.Oppostion parties have also failed in their role to press for the ultimate completion of the project and demanding for a white paper for the delays.
Ultimately peolpe of this area are helpless spectators without any power to recall thier elected representatives/ debarring the parties from contesting the elctions for atleast one term.
We, the residents of villivakkam (North jagantha nagar),have been waiting endlessly for this project to be completed.It still seems to be a faraway dream.we find commuting very difficult.Children going to colleges and schools are forced to take a roundabout route and leave home an hour earlier.If authorities could speeden up the process we would be grateful and relieved.Will the subway ever open?-