When even a walk on the road becomes an arduous task, there is reason indeed to complain. Residents of Perungudi and Thoraipakkam have been facing severe difficulties due to the battered state of interior roads for a while now.
Though Chennai Corporation has been laying certain roads, Chennai Metrowater’s underground sewage works have not yet been completed in many places.
The roads in Ramappanagar in Perungudi are in an especially deplorable state. Though sewer lines have been laid from most houses, residents say that Chennai Metrowater is yet to complete its work. “Last month, during the rains, many parents who brought their children to the nearby school skidded in the slush and fell. With Metrowater handing over only few roads to the Corporation, the latter is unable to lay the roads and residents continue to suffer, said S.B. Khanthan, a resident of Perungudi,
Metrowater officials said problems in acquisition of land to construct sewage pumping stations and delay in tendering process led to the slowdown of work. The work is scheduled to be completed by July next year. They said the network would be linked to the sewage treatment plant in Perungudi.
In Sholinganallur, residents are actually worried that their roads are being laid. G. Sundaram, president of Sholinganallur Residents Welfare Association said that their underground sewage project had just been tendered.
“Now if our roads are laid, they will be dug up again when the drains are laid. When they are relaid , the height of the roads would increase; the Corporation should ensure that the height is not increased,” he said.
