The Chennai Corporation has proposed to de-clutter footpaths on arterial stretches and important bus route roads in the city. Many footpaths are occupied by pillar boxes, transformers and other utilities that clutter pedestrian space. Mayor Saidai Duraisamy will soon be holding a meeting with TANGEDCO officials to discuss ways to take this project forward.
A senior official of the Corporation said that as part of the project, 55 roads were initially identified and officials have been collecting data about the various utilities causing hindrances to the pedestrians in all the 15 zones. The idea is to rationally place these utilities on the footpaths so as to minimise hurdles for pedestrians, the official explained.
Once the data about the obstructions is collected, the Mayor will take the project forward by coordinating with Tangedco officials to work out the best way of streamlining pillar boxes and transformers. The official said that work on paving modern footpaths by shifting these utilities has already been carried out on 24 arterial roads. These include Pantheon Road, Police Commissioners Office Road, Ethiraj Salai, Gandhi Irwin Road, Valluvar Kottam High Road, Sterling Road, Sterling Avenue, Tank Bund Road and Mahalingapuram Main Road.
The senior official, when asked if the service departments including TANGEDCO and Chennai Telephones would be bearing the cost for shifting the various utilities, said the civic body is paying for the shifting work and the cost has been worked into the estimates.
A senior official of TANGEDCO said local officials are coordinating with officials of the civic body in paving the way for obstruction-free footpaths.
